Bid to install Wirral Waters heat network lodged with council
Wirral Waters, the £4.5bn development scheme by Peel L&P, has submitted a planning application to install a District Heat Network (DHN).
The application to Wirral Council is a significant milestone in the regeneration of the site, as it will help to deliver the essential infrastructure for a low carbon heat source at forthcoming developments, including Vittoria Studios, West Float and the wider regeneration of the area.
The reserved matters application includes an energy centre, which utilises water source heat pumps as the main heat source, and associated pipe network and has been submitted by Ener-Vate, part of Peel Natural Resources and Energy (NRE), which itself is part of Peel L&P.
Ener-Vate specialises in the development of low carbon energy provision, adopting best practice to reduce carbon emissions.
The proposed energy network is in line with Wirral’s Development Plan and the Wirral Local Plan and is included in the Wirral Waters Sustainability Action Plan.
It has also secured funding from the Government’s Green Heat Network Fund.
James Hadfield, strategic waters manager at Ener-Vate, said: “Sustainability and low carbon initiatives have always been at the heart of the regeneration of Wirral Waters, and this planning application aims to realise those ambitions through the introduction of a low carbon heating source which will provide connectivity to both existing and future occupiers.”
Peel NRE is behind the Mersey Heat network being installed at the sister Liverpool Waters site, a £5.5bn regeneration of the Liverpool waterfront.
The programme involves 4.1km of pipework around the estate to make buildings at Princes Parade and 540 apartments at Tobacco Warehouse at Stanley Dock connection-ready.
Peel NRE’s Mersey Heat district heat network will provide low carbon heat and hot water to more than 9,000 homes and four million sq ft of commercial space at Liverpool Waters and other nearby buildings.
The energy centre, which received planning consent in February 2021, is expected to save around 4,200 tonnes of carbon per year.
