Case study · Community heat network
Designing low-carbon heat for a repowered community.
How a neighbourhood cluster in the London Borough of Newham is developing a shared heat network that supports affordable warmth, community ownership and a fair transition away from fossil fuels.
What was happening
Homes and community buildings relied on fragmented, carbon-intensive heating systems, while fuel poverty and energy insecurity placed growing pressure on residents.
What was needed
A credible neighbourhood-scale heat network design that could deliver low-carbon warmth, support community ownership and progress confidently toward delivery.
What we unlocked
A clear, engineering-led pathway toward a shared heat network grounded in place, fundable in reality and capable of being replicated across future community clusters.
A community ready for change, but not yet connected by heat
The Repowered Community Newham programme was created to address deep-rooted inequalities in the energy system. Rising costs. Carbon exposure. Limited local control over the energy people rely on every day.
Within this neighbourhood cluster, four social housing blocks sit alongside a school and community centre. Each building tells a different story. Different heating systems, different demand profiles and different constraints.
Space is tight. Infrastructure is buried. And any solution must work not just on paper, but in the everyday lives of the people who depend on it. The question is not whether low-carbon heat is possible. It is how to design it in a way that is technically robust, socially credible and ready to deliver.
A complex system with shared opportunity beneath the surface
Early surveys and heat-loss modelling revealed a familiar pattern. Systems designed in isolation. Operating below their potential. Collectively driving higher costs and emissions than necessary.
When demand profiles across homes, the school and the community centre were viewed together, a different picture emerged. Load diversity and alignment pointed toward the potential for a shared solution rather than multiple disconnected upgrades.
Beneath streets and courtyards, there is emerging potential for a shared ground source array capable of supporting centralised heat pumps. Electrical capacity, network temperature strategy and in-building distribution are already shaping the design. This is not one problem to solve, but a system that needs to be understood as a whole.
Designing heat rooted in real buildings and real lives
Working closely with Repowering London, London South Bank University and specialist partners, Generation 7 is developing the heat network from concept design into detailed design.
Targeted surveys are being carried out across non-residential buildings and representative dwelling archetypes. Heating load models are informing heat pump sizing, network routing and plant configuration. Alternative temperature strategies are being tested through techno-economic, energy and carbon modelling.
Specialist input is assessing the feasibility of a shared ground source array, while early engagement with the distribution network operator is shaping electrical capacity strategy from the outset.
As detailed design progresses, the focus is on coordinated layouts, schematics, control philosophy, risk registers and specifications. This is not abstract design. It is shaped by buildings, streets, services and the people who will rely on the heat every day.
From ambition to a credible, deliverable pathway
As the project develops, a clear pathway to delivery is taking shape. One that balances affordability, carbon reduction and long-term resilience.
The programme is moving from principle to practice. Indicative costs are emerging. Risks are being defined. A shared technical understanding is forming across partners.
What began as an ambition for low-carbon heat is becoming a grounded, engineering-led opportunity that can progress confidently into planning, funding and delivery.
Good heat builds resilience, fairness and confidence
Heat is not just an engineering service. It is a daily experience that shapes comfort, health and confidence in the systems that serve communities.
This project shows how low-carbon heat can be developed with communities, not just for them. Technical design is aligned with affordability, ownership and long-term stability from the start.
By grounding design in lived reality, decarbonisation becomes something people can trust, engage with and eventually feel. Quietly. Reliably. Every day.