Leeds is showing the way forward for greener heating: Channa Karunaratne

It’s no surprise then that the topic of how the UK becomes a net zero nation was a key point of discussion in Leeds recently as the city hosted UKREiiF.

The built environment is responsible for 25 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions so making our homes and businesses more sustainable is an imperative.

Key to that is how we power them, so it was appropriate that the summit was hosted in Leeds – which is home to one of the UK’s largest heat networks.

The Leeds PIPES District Heat Network connects nearly 2,000 residential and commercial buildings in the city centre to sustainable energy. It works by taking the wasted heat generated from a local recycling and waste management centre, which is converted to useful electricity.

Such is its success, advanced plans are in place to expand the scheme to the South Bank, as Leeds City Council acts as a flagbearer for other local authorities looking to decarbonise their towns and cities.

The benefits of heat networks can be wide-ranging, including improved local air quality and lower costs for residents in the long-term. Crucially, they also help to reduce the UK’s reliance on imported gas, using a local source to supply communities with heat that would otherwise go to waste.

Connecting to a heat network is not difficult either, with residents usually only required to swap their gas boiler for a similar sized heat exchanger.

It’s worth noting that heat networks aren’t a new phenomenon though – they’ve been used since the 1960s, originally taking waste heat from coal-fired power stations. There are now more than 12,000 heat networks in the UK, providing heating and hot water to approximately 480,000 consumers. But this represents just two per cent of the UK’s heating and hot water provision and this proportion needs to be far higher if we’re to hit net zero.

Late last year the National Infrastructure Committee recommended the government should abandon the rollout of hydrogen heating – as has already happened in Redcar – and put its chips into heat networks.

Many local authorities are already acting on the NIC’s recommendations, using the government’s Green Heat Network Fund to accelerate the rollout of new networks and expand existing ones. But as we know with any transformational project, availability of central funding alone won’t help schemes gather a sufficient head of steam to make progress.

Heat networks are, by design, scalable. As cities grow, so can the energy source powering them. But this needs to be baked into local plans and spatial planning documents so that all urban projects are ready to receive energy from a local heat network.

With many projects often taking the best part of a decade to move from conception through to completion, councils need to engage funders, developers and contractors as early as possible to establish a clear plan for every stage of the process.

Public-private partnerships are also essential to tackle piecemeal land ownership and unlock the space needed to power energy upgrades for a whole city or borough.

The positive news is that these were exactly the type of conversations taking place at UKREiiF.

Looking ahead, a government zoning exercise has identified 150 urban locations across the UK where heat networks are ready to be established, including towns like Northallerton. These zones will become a focal point for private sector investment and local zoning coordinators will need to be put in place quickly to ensure projects progress smoothly.

Leeds is an example of a city that’s already making headway. The hope is more will follow suit, fuelled by discussions had at UKREiiF.

Channa Karunaratne is heat networks lead at AECOM