A MAJOR Southampton employer which was set to be one of the main benefactors in a plan to build a new power plant has gone ahead with its own £1.1m scheme.

Map publisher Ordnance Survey is now self-sufficient with its very own combined heat and power (CHP) scheme at its Maybush head office.

The building was among commercial premises in Millbrook, Redbridge and Maybush, which - together with 3,000 homes and ten schools - would have benefited from a proposed £25m CHP plant at Nursling.

The plant - backed by Southampton City Council and the government - is currently the subject of an appeal after Test Valley council turned down an application to build it by the M27.

A new gas-fired generator on site at the OS allows the entire heat for the office - with 1,250 staff - to be produced as a by-product of electricity for lighting.

Within about four years the company will save £1.1m on its gas and electricity - the amount it cost to install the scheme.

Stephanie Middle, assistant environmental adviser at the OS, said: "The main reason behind implementing the scheme was to bring us in line with government initiatives to reduce carbon emissions from our gas and electricity usage, with the added bonus of a reduction in operational costs. Because we are producing our own electricity our electricity usage should drop right down.