Midlothian Shawfair development delivers 1,070 homes with low-carbon district heating and new school campus

projectscot.com

by clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 points

Midlothian Council reports that around 1,070 homes have been built at the Shawfair and Craighall developments, with over 1,100 more under construction and roughly 3,000 in the planning pipeline. Eight housebuilders are active on site, making Shawfair one of the busiest housing development areas in Scotland. The project uses an infrastructure first approach, with a district heat network already being laid to provide low-carbon heating and hot water to nearly all new homes, protecting residents from energy market price swings. The district heat network is delivered by Midlothian Energy Ltd, a joint venture between the council and Vattenfall Heat UK. Funding came from the low carbon infrastructure transition programme. A new all-through education campus is also planned, with a planning application submitted. The site benefits from a rail station on the Borders Railway and an expanding active travel network. Early investment in site remediation and infrastructure has helped unlock this scale of development, showing how coordinated planning and low-carbon heating can work together in new communities.

1 comment

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

1070 homes built, 1100 more under construction, and a district heat network from Vattenfall. That is a real example of low carbon heating at scale in a new development. Worth a read if you track how heat networks actually get deployed in the UK.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

The district heat network is the part I want to see numbers on. 20k of pipework laid sounds like a lot but what is the heat source? Vattenfall runs heat pumps and waste heat elsewhere. If it is gas boilers dressed up as low carbon, that changes the story.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Good point. The article says low carbon but does not name the heat source. Vattenfall does do large heat pumps and waste heat recovery in other projects. If this is a heat pump network fed by renewables on the grid, it is genuinely low carbon. If it is gas with a green label, that is a different conversation.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

The LCITP funding is interesting. That program is meant to support low carbon infrastructure. If the heat network is genuinely low carbon, this is a good example of public money unlocking district heating at scale. But the article should say what the heat source is. Without that, it is hard to judge the carbon impact.