Heat network development is moving rapidly from policy ambition into procurement and delivery. Across the UK, local authorities are looking for partners that can help deliver infrastructure that will become part of their towns and cities for decades.
For developers, technical expertise, commercial strength and deliverability will always be fundamental. But our experience tells us that winning – and then successfully delivering – these projects depends on much more. Local authorities also need confidence that a partner understands the place, can navigate political and planning complexity, build relationships with future customers and communities, and create benefits that endure long after construction.
Understand the place as well as the project
Heat networks are inherently local. They connect public buildings, businesses, homes and major institutions, while sitting within wider ambitions around net zero, regeneration, jobs, skills and economic growth. A strong proposition therefore needs to demonstrate an understanding of those local priorities and the political and stakeholder environment surrounding them.
It is something we see through our work on heat network projects including Project SWAN in Westminster, a major low-carbon heat network opportunity being developed through the Government’s Advanced Zoning Programme. Developing infrastructure of this scale in the centre of a city means operating within a complex network of public bodies, institutions, businesses, property interests, elected representatives and communities. Understanding those relationships, and what different stakeholders need from the project, is integral to building a credible route to delivery.
“When several bidders can demonstrate technical capability, differentiation increasingly comes from the strength of the wider proposition.”
The same applies to the bid itself. When several bidders can demonstrate technical capability, differentiation increasingly comes from the strength of the wider proposition: how the developer will work with the authority, secure future customers, manage risk and disruption, and translate investment into meaningful local value.
Social value is part of that, but it needs to be grounded in the priorities of the place. Jobs, apprenticeships, skills and local supply-chain opportunities become much more compelling when they form part of a coherent local story rather than a list of commitments attached to a tender response.
Planning is where those promises are tested
Securing preferred bidder status is a major milestone, but it is not the finishing line. Planning is where the proposition meets the realities of local politics, stakeholder interests and community scrutiny.
“Securing preferred bidder status is a major milestone, but it is not the finishing line.”
Our work supporting E.ON on the Blackburn Meadows heat network extension in Sheffield illustrates why this matters. The expansion has now secured planning approval from Sheffield City Council and Rotherham Council following a two-year programme of engagement around the project and its impacts and benefits.
Successful infrastructure planning is rarely achieved through the application alone. It requires an understanding of the decision-making environment, engagement with elected members and officers, structured dialogue with businesses and other stakeholders, and transparent consultation with communities.
That means being prepared to talk about disruption as well as benefits. Heat network construction can affect roads, access and businesses. People are more likely to trust a developer that acknowledges those impacts, explains how they will be managed and demonstrates that feedback has been listened to than one that simply repeats the strategic case for the project.
The objective is to build confidence that the scheme is not only needed, but can be delivered responsibly.
Keep earning trust through delivery
That principle extends far beyond heat networks. Through our wider work on major energy infrastructure, including National Grid’s Chesterfield to Willington project, we see first-hand how engagement needs to evolve as schemes progress.
The proposed new 400kV overhead line runs for around 60km through Derbyshire and has involved successive stages of public consultation. Feedback from the first stage helped inform more detailed proposals presented at the second, while engagement with communities, local authorities, elected representatives and landowners continues as the project develops towards its Development Consent Order application.
The principle is relevant whether the infrastructure is beneath a city street or carried across the landscape: securing consent is not the end of stakeholder engagement.
“Relationships built during development and planning become an important asset when a project encounters the inevitable challenges of construction.”
Once delivery begins, communities and businesses need timely information, elected representatives need to understand what is happening in their areas and emerging issues need to be dealt with quickly. Relationships built during development and planning become an important asset when a project encounters the inevitable challenges of construction.
For heat networks this is particularly important because the relationship with a place can continue for decades. Trust is therefore not simply something required to secure permission. It forms part of the network’s long-term licence to operate.
Build the legacy from the beginning
This is also why legacy needs to be considered at bid stage, rather than added towards the end of the project.
The lasting impact of a heat network should extend beyond the infrastructure and carbon saved. Done well, investment can build local skills, create employment, open opportunities for local businesses, support regeneration and strengthen relationships between the public and private sectors. Blackburn Meadows, for example, is being presented not only as an expansion of low-carbon heat infrastructure but as an investment in jobs, green skills and longer-term community benefits.
“The lasting impact of a heat network should extend beyond the infrastructure and carbon saved.”
Those outcomes matter because the energy transition will ultimately be judged locally. Communities will experience it through infrastructure being built around them and through the organisations responsible for delivering it.
Winning a heat network bid and creating a lasting legacy are therefore not separate ambitions. The local insight that strengthens the bid helps build relationships. Those relationships support planning and delivery. Good engagement protects trust when disruption occurs, and delivering on the commitments made at the outset creates the credibility needed to grow the network and secure future opportunities.
The developers that succeed will be those that understand places as well as projects – and can demonstrate, years after the contract was awarded, that their investment left the place stronger.
JBP helps energy and infrastructure developers navigate the political, planning, stakeholder and community challenges that shape successful projects. Download our heat networks briefing to find out how we can support your next opportunity.