Vattenfall Heat UK to bring low carbon heating to London homes and businesses

Vattenfall Heat UK has signed an agreement with Brent Cross South developer Argent Related to provide low carbon heating to homes, shops, and other businesses in the redevelopment scheme in Barnet, north London. At 8MW it will be the largest installation of heat pumps in a heat network in the UK.

Working in collaboration with Argent Related and the London Borough of Barnet, Vattenfall Heat UK will design, build and operate the district heating network over the coming decades, with an aim to eventually remove all CO2 emitting sources.

“Brent Cross South will be a new town centre which encourages people to thrive, leading healthier lives, and which is being designed to ambitious sustainability targets. We have chosen to work with Vattenfall to help us deliver future-proofed energy infrastructure with the aim of achieving zero carbon heating within a generation.”
- Anthony Peter, COO of Brent Cross South DM

The cutting-edge installation is expected to be operational from 2023. It will be developed to its full scale over the coming decades, building on Vattenfall’s experience in constructing and operating some of Europe’s fastest growing heat networks in cities such as Amsterdam.

The district heating network will provide low carbon heating and hot water to 6,700 new homes and three million square feet of new office, retail and commercial space as part of the proposed regeneration scheme. It will include 8MW of heat pumps, supplying over 80% of the total heat requirements of the site, alongside other low and zero carbon heat sources to keep the Brent Cross South site warm. Engineers are also working on a plan to use the infrastructure to cool Brent Cross South in the summer, as well as heat it in the winter.

The system will be ‘future-proofed’ at the design phase by taking a staged approach to the installation of the heat generation infrastructure. This means that the most recent and innovative technology can be installed when it is required, as opposed to reinstalling new technology when those in use become outdated. A range of existing and future low and zero carbon heat sources will be integrated into the network to further expand it, including heat pumps, electric boilers and even waste heat from datacentres.

As district heating technology becomes more advanced and more fossil-fuel free heat sources become available, the heat sources feeding the network can be interchanged, allowing the network to become completely zero-carbon.

"This is a really exciting partnership with Argent Related and means we can install a state-of-the-art heat network that will deliver affordable, reliable, and low carbon heating for people in the Brent Cross South redevelopment."

Adriana Rodriguez Cobas

Regional Director, London and South UK

“Vattenfall’s purpose is to power climate smarter living. Working with ambitious partners who share our vision and values, like Argent Related and Barnet Council, means we can make regeneration in London climate-friendly.”

Vattenfall Heat UK

Vattenfall Heat UK delivers on low carbon heating, cooling and power solutions; through smart minds, shared risk, and a commitment to enable fossil-fuel free living within one generation. We're an energy partner at the forefront of affordable and reliable low carbon heating in the UK.