Air conditioning in Scottish Government buildings: FOI release

Information requested

1. Confirmation of those Scottish Government offices that have air conditioning, including each of the main buildings.

2. How much has the Scottish Government spent on powering air conditioning in its main buildings in the calendar years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 to date.

3. How much has the Scottish Government spent on installing or maintaining air conditioning in its main buildings in the calendar years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 to date.

4. How energy was used by the Scottish Government to power air conditioning in its main buildings in the calendar years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 to date.

Response

1. There are no systems installed across the Scottish Government estate that combines measures associated with full air conditioning i.e. the combination of temperature control, humidity adjustment, dust particle level monitoring, odour level control and air motion monitoring. All Scottish Government systems control the temperature only and are installed in the following buildings:

	Location
1	Governors House, Edinburgh
2	Longman House, Inverness
3	Strathearn House, Perth
4	Russell House, Ayr
5	Saint Andrews House, Edinburgh
6	Scorrybreac, Portree
7	Saughton House, Edinburgh
8	Strathbeg House, Thurso
9	Tweedbank, Galashiels
10	Thainstone Court, Inverurie
11	Victoria Quay, Edinburgh
12	Cadzow Court, Hamilton
13	U4B,Kinlochleven
14	5 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow
15	Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen
16	Faskally Fresh Water Laboratory, Faskally
17	Denholm House, Livingston
18	Compass House (Not maintained by Scot Gov)

2. It is not possible to provide costs associated with powering air conditioning in the Scottish Government's main buildings as there is no sub metering installed for air conditioning systems at any Scottish Government sites.

3. The costs of installing air conditioning systems during the time period is shown in the table below:

Location	April 21 -March22	April 22 -March 23	April 23 -March 24	April 24 -March 25	April 25 -Today
5 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow					£3,472.00
Longman House, Inverness			£5,033.64
Bute House, Edinburgh				£19,732.16
Fresh Water Laboratory, Faskally	£3,333.79
Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen	£6,264.05			£9,878.20
St Andrews House, Edinburgh	£42,474.91	£25,303.81	£13,510.56
Saughton House, Edinburgh					£3,804.26
Tweedbank, Galashiels	£6,618.79
Compass House, Dundee (Not maintained by Scot Gov)			£3,150.00

The cost to maintain air conditioning systems in Scottish Government main buildings during the time period is shown in the table below. This expenditure relates to planned preventative maintenance and costs associated with reactive repairs:

	Location	April 21-March 22	April 22-March 23	April 23- March 24	April 24-March 25	April 25 - Today
1	Governors House, Edinburgh	£659.37	£744.45	£744.45	£774.23	£328.78
2	Longman House, Inverness	£1,221.52	£1,148.59	£1,148.59	£1,195.38	£507.63
3	Strathearn House, Perth	£701.91	£691.28	£723.18	£752.96	£319.75
4	Russell House, Ayr	£340.32	£345.64	£345.64	£359.46	£152.65
5	Saint Andrews House, Edinburgh	£1,701.61	£2,765.12	£2,765.12	£2,875.72	£1,221.20
6	Scorrybreac, Portree	£1,106.05	£1,084.78	£1,084.78	£1,150.71	£488.66
7	Saughton House, Edinburgh	£7,657.24	£7,561.53	£7,642.35	£7,950.77	£3,376.35
8	Strathbeg House, Thurso	£1,169.86	£1,223.03	£1,223.03	£1,271.95	£540.14
9	Tweedbank, Gala	£680.62	£691.28	£691.28	£718.93	£305.30
10	Thainstone Court, Inverurie	£914.62	£850.80	£850.80	£884.84	£375.75
11	Victoria Quay, Edinburgh	£5,413.25	£6,806.44	£6,844.72	£7,210.57	£3,062.02
12	Cadzow Court, Hamilton	£320.12	£340.32	£382.86	£399.88	£169.81
13	U4B Kinlochleven	£1,106.05	£1,148.59	£1,148.59	£1,195.38	£507.63
14	5 Atlantic Quay, Glasgow	£4,190.21	£4,296.56	£4,377.39	£4,549.68	£1,932.06
15	Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen	£7,501.97	£9,571.55	£9,737.46	£9,673.65	£4,107.99
16	Fresh Water Laboratory, Faskally	£989.70	£1,052.87	£1,052.87	£1,095.41	£465.17
17	Denholm House, Livingston	£1,297.48	£1,361.29	£1,361.29	£1,416.59	£601.57
18	Compass House, Dundee (Not maintained by Scot Gov)	£0.00	£0.00	£0.00	£0.00	£0.00

​​​​​​​4. All electricity supplied to owned core Scottish Government buildings is via a Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGOs) tariff. The renewable composition of the electricity supply is only available from the supplier in financial years.

2021-22 – Biodegradable 68% Wind 32%

2022-23 – Biomass 100%

2023-24 – Off Shore Wind 100%

2024-25 – The report for 2024-25 will be issued in November 2025.

​​​​​​​Victoria Quay, St Andrews House, Thainstone and Tweedbank buildings have on site Solar Photo Voltaic which feeds into the main electrical supply for the buildings and helps to reduce the amount of electricity taken from the grid.

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