We have successfully bid for almost £1.5m of funding from the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES) to support the ongoing improvement of our heat networks.
The HNES provides funding to public, private and third sector applicants in England and Wales to support improvements to existing district heating or communal heating projects that are operating sub-optimally and resulting in poor outcomes for customers and operators.
In total we have secured £1,470,000 in match funding from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to allow us to plan for heating improvement projects to be delivered in 2025 -26.
Under the scheme rules the capital money awarded will cover 49.9% of the work we are doing, while we make up the other 50.1% ourselves, as per the match funding agreement.
The projects planned for the upcoming year are:
- Baths Court, Hammersmith and Fulham, W12 – Full replacement of the heat network including new boilers, plant equipment, and radiators throughout the building. We will also be fitting individual heating interface units (HIUs) in 32 homes connected to the new plant via a two-pipework network in corridors and risers (the current four pipe network will be fully decommissioned).
- Ernest Harriss House, Westminster, W9 – A complete retrofit of the heating and hot water network serving this supported housing scheme comprising of 61 units, with the current network having been assessed by our heat consultants Fairheat as ‘end of life’.
- Reservoir and Watersreach, Hackney, N4 - HIU retrofit in 117 flats and in the community centre, replacement of radiators, and plant and network improvements including removing bypasses, replacing air vents, and re-insulating pipework.
- Rowan and Hornbeam, Hackney, N4 - Installation of new heating units and heat meters, as well as smart hubs that allow remote monitoring of heating performance. This project will be 100% funded from our capital heat investment budget.
- Gloucester Court, Kensington and Chelsea, W10 - we’ll be applying for funding in the next round of HNES funding, in March, to financially support a full replacement of the heating and hot water service heat plant and infrastructure.
Our work at Baths Court this Spring will be our first full retrofit project within a supported housing scheme. Our supported housing residents there will benefit from having individual control over their heating and temperatures through new heating interface units and smart meters, rather than having the network deliver heat directly to the radiators. This will resolve historic issues of flats and corridors becoming too hot, and problems with maintaining pipework due to its age.
Work has already been completed or is currently underway at some of our other sites including Glyn Street, Meadows, St Pancras Way, Sarawak Court, The Exchange, Mildmay, Thomas Road and Factory Quarter using money from previous rounds of funding.
All projects will deliver service improvements for residents and achieve key HNES objectives which are driving up heating efficiency, lowering carbon emissions, and reducing energy consumption, in turn positively impacting heating costs.
