Abbey Stadium Leisure Centre in Redditch, Worcestershire, is set to see its energy bill cut radically after work was completed to allow it to utilise waste heat from an adjacent crematorium.

The innovative - and rather controversial - project will see heat generated from the flue gas cleaning process at neighbouring Redditch Crematorium reused throughout the leisure centre.

The Redditch Borough Council (RBC) scheme - which was completed by consultants Drivers Jonas Deloitte in partnership with developers ISG - is set to create one of the greenest leisure centres in the country, providing 42 per cent of the facility's yearly heat demand.

It will also reduce the entire Council's CO2 emissions by 4 per cent per year.

The plans were first announced in January 2011 and later in the year were recognised with the awarding of the Green Apple Award

Julian Record, director of Driver Jonas Deloitte, who advised the council on the new centre, said: "This is an innovative development that has enabled the council to reach two key objectives - reducing the energy demands of the leisure centre and the crematorium emissions."

RBC calculates that installing the new scheme will cost approximately £85,000, yielding annual gas savings of around £16,800 per year based on current fuel inflation - giving a payback period of just more than five years.

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