Work starts on solar panel covered car park

NHS Humber Health Partnership An aerial artist's impression of the new solar carports showing rows of panels surrounded by a railway line and trees NHS Humber Health Partnership
The revamped staff car park will provide 450 parking spaces

Work has started to build a car park covered with solar panels at Scunthorpe Hospital.

The carports will replace the existing staff car park and provide 450 spaces.

It is part of a £27m project to reduce the hospital's carbon emissions by more than 4,000 tonnes a year.

Other work includes replacing gas-powered heating boilers with electric ones and improving insulation across the site.

More than £20m of the money came from the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

Alex Best from the NHS Humber Health Partnership said the NHS made up "more than 5% of the UK's total carbon footprint".

"We know we're a significant part of the problem," he said.

"That also gives us the chance to play a big part in putting it right."

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices.

Related internet links