Introduction

All of the school units that belong to the jurisdiction of Thessaloniki’s Municipality will be connected to the natural gas network by September 2008 and they will have increased fire safety concerning their heating installations.

Objectives and target audience

Project’s objectives:-
a)    long-term economy in the cost and availability of fuel;
b)    lower emissions of exhaust and greenhouse gases and therefore better quality of air;
c)    increase of fire-safety concerning the heating installations.

Target audience: the project is directly targeted at the school population but the attended benefits are addressed to the general public of Thessaloniki

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Total budget of 1st phase : 600.000 €
Total budget of 2nd phase : 1.100.000 €
The project was funded by the Ministry of Development, through the operational programme “Competitiveness”, which is co-financed by the European Commission.
The municipality of Thessaloniki carried out all the necessary studies for the substitution of heating fuel and the construction was supervised by the Ministry for the Interior – Greece.

Process

The project included the following tasks: preparation of all necessary studies, application and approval by the Public Gas Corporation SA, installation of gas supply pipelines, replacement of burners and boilers from oil to gas, improvement of the boiler rooms concerning their fire-safety, installation of fire detection and fire fighting devices, connection to the gas network, final tests and operation

Results

The 1st phase of the project was completed by November 2006 and 48 schools were fully connected to the network of natural gas, while the 2nd phase of the project, concerning the remaining 56 school units, was approved for funding by the Ministry for the Interior and the necessary studies for the substitution of heating oil by natural gas are already submitted and approved.  The project was extended in order to also include 17 non-educational municipal buildings.  The 2nd phase is expected to be completed by September 2008.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The most critical factor for the successful completion of the project was the coordination of all the involved parties (Department for the Construction of Municipal Works, School Committees, Ministry for the Interior, Ministry of Development, Public Gas Corporation SA).
In order for such initiatives to be transferred to other municipalities, the municipality of Thessaloniki should perform regular gas exhaust measurements before and after the completion of the project in each school, as well as check the levels of SO2, CO and air particles and disseminate the results.