Turning waste heat into warmth for an entire town.

A town with all the right ingredients – but a system that didn’t connect them yet

On the edge of this UK town, an energy-from-waste (EfW) plant was quietly producing one thing in abundance: heat. Every day, vast amounts of usable energy drifted into the atmosphere with nowhere to go.

At the same time, people in the town were heating homes, schools, leisure centres and public buildings with fossil-fuel boilers. Costs were rising, carbon exposure was growing and the opportunity for something better was sitting just out of reach.

The Local Authority knew there was a smarter way. The question was not whether there was potential, but how to tap it without disrupting the life of the town it could serve.

A circular opportunity hiding in plain sight

Our load assessment revealed around 68 GWh per year of potential heat demand across the town – enough to displace a significant share of local gas consumption while improving local air quality.

Walking routes on foot, we mapped how heat could travel: crossing roads, rivers and rail lines; weaving between homes, heritage streets and civic buildings; linking communities that had never shared heat before.

Inside the EfW plant, we uncovered multiple viable heat offtake options – low-pressure steam bleed, turbine exhaust heat, flue-gas recovery and industrial heat pumps to lift temperatures where needed. This was not a single-point fix. It was a whole-system opportunity waiting for coherence.

Designing a circular heat system rooted in place

We brought the Local Authority, heat network developer and EfW operator around one shared model – one version of reality everyone could work from.

Together we developed a detailed feasibility study and concept design: a techno-economic model that balanced ambition with affordability, and a concept network layout that showed how new district heating mains could reach key sites across the town.

Routes were surveyed on foot, crossings of road, river and rail evaluated and key connection points – from homes and schools to public buildings – identified and prioritised. Heat offtake options at the EfW plant were engineered around real operational constraints, not idealised assumptions.

This was not theoretical design. It was shaped by footpaths, traffic flows, civic rhythms and the lived reality of the people who would rely on the heat.

From promising idea to practical, fundable opportunity

The feasibility work showed that a town-scale network could deliver up to 68 GWh per year of recovered heat, cutting operational energy use and CO₂ emissions by around 30% compared with a business-as-usual scenario.

The concept gave decision-makers a clear basis for funding bids and partnership discussions: a realistic network layout, indicative costs, and a phased approach that respects both engineering constraints and the day-to-day life of the town.

What began as “waste heat” is now the backbone of a credible, engineering-ready opportunity to provide cleaner, more affordable warmth for homes, workplaces and civic spaces across the community. Support is ongoing as the project develops into the next stages.

Because the cleanest energy is often the energy you are already making

Circular heat is not a futuristic idea. It is a mindset. Waste heat is only “waste” when a system is not designed to catch it.

Capturing it means warmer homes at lower cost, cleaner air for families, reduced pressure on the power grid and greater local energy security. It turns Net Zero from a distant commitment into something people can actually feel in their daily lives.

This project shows what becomes possible when energy systems are designed around people, place and planet – not just plant and pipework. It is heat that works for life, not just for load.