At there meeting on Wednesday (20 November 2024) senior Councillors on the Executive Board approved plans to develop the PIPES district heating scheme with a new network being created for the South Bank area of Hunslet and Holbeck.
The existing PIPES network provides low carbon heating to some 2,000 properties including Council flats, student accommodation, civic and commercial buildings. It uses heat generated by the Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility (RERF) in Cross Green which incinerates waste from residential black bins.
The new South Bank scheme will use heat from Verallia’s glass manufacturing process in the South Bank area (formerly Allied Glass). It is anticipated that the project will heat up to 28 buildings, covering 8,000 residents in existing and new developments including those around Leeds Dock and those under construction along Sweet Street, although formal agreements have yet to be entered into.
A site is currently being sought for an energy centre which “will house pumping equipment, thermal storage cylinders and also electric boilers or other heating infrastructure to provide back-up in the event of primary heat source outages” according to the report.
The scheme is estimated to cost £67.1m. Of that £24.5m is being provided by central government through the Green Heat Network Fund. Councillors agreed to seek a development partner and form a ‘joint venture’ company. The report explains that:
“Fundamentally, the proposed South Bank … development … does not involve any capital contribution or ongoing payment by the Council, and it will be for the development partner to assume the risk on all costs and income.”
Early work is scheduled to be undertaken at Clarence Road to tie in with a Highways scheme, but the main construction work is expected to take place from 2026-28.
You can read the full report to Executive Board here.
Photo: the Verallia glass works in Hunslet. Credit: Google
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LCC can afford to finance the bulk of this? How?
Learn to read maybe? “Fundamentally, the proposed South Bank … development … does not involve any capital contribution or ongoing payment by the Council, and it will be for the development partner to assume the risk on all costs and income.”