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Work is almost complete at Beam Park, where we’ve designed and installed an energy centre to supply sustainable heat and power to 1,200 homes, and we’ll soon be handing the keys over to our client, Countryside.

We have installed all plant and equipment within the Energy Centre which includes 2no Bosch CHP and 6no Hoval gas fired boilers, LTHW and gas pipework. Flues have been installed to above roof level in Block L, in which the EC is situated (12 stories high), ventilation has 4no supply fans and 2no extract fans which have been ducted to their positions.

Electrical power is now available to BMS panel and is allowing commissioning of the system. Pumps, pressurization unit and Vacuum Degasser have now been commissioned, and supply and extract fans have been wired and are due to be commissioned next week.

Michael Davidson, Senior Project Engineer at Beam Park, said:

“This has been a really enjoyable project to work on, and we have a great relationship with the client. We hit a few bumps in the road in relation to the distribution network operator suppliers of gas and power, but we’re back on track and are ready for the boiler and gas commissioning in mid-November.”

Fun fact – located in the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham and Havering, the Beam Park site is the former home of one of the largest car plants in the world. It was also used for a dress rehearsal of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and formed the backdrop for the popular British film ‘Made in Dagenham’.

We’ve secured phase 2 of the project where work will begin soon – watch this space!

Vital Energi are helping Plymouth City Council achieve their goal of a net zero city by 2030 by delivering carbon savings of just under 300 tonnes a year through the installation of advanced renewable energy technologies across five of their buildings and the combined law courts.

Low carbon heat will be delivered to six of Plymouth’s key city centre buildings, including Ballard House, Plymouth City Council’s 7-storey head office, Crownhill Court, Grade II* listed Victorian townhouse, Elliot Terrace, and the Guildhall, which is a Grade II listed building owned by the council, linked by a heat network to the Council House and Plymouth Combined Court. This is part one of a larger programme of decarbonisation by the Council.

The buildings currently rely on individual gas fired boilers for heat, which release combustion gases and carbon emissions to the atmosphere via a flue in each building. Vital Energi are providing the complete design, supply, delivery, installation, testing, commissioning, and monitoring for the installation of Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP) which will be connected to the existing heating system.

ASHPs are one of the most effective technologies for reducing carbon. They absorb heat from the outside air, transfer it to a liquid and compress it to heat the temperature further.  The heat is then transferred from the liquid to water and distributed throughout the network to provide heat to the connected buildings. ASHPs can still extract heat when air temperatures are as low as -15°c, which is far lower than Plymouth ever gets!

Vital Energi are also undertaking alterations to parts of the heating system pipework and controls within the existing building; this is to reduce the heating system operating temperatures to support the lower optimum ASHP operating temperatures and maximised efficiencies.

All four sites will be remotely monitored via a building management system (BMS) too, so performance can be monitored over time and amendments can be made to controls settings and software remotely.

Rob Callaghan, Managing Director of Vital Energi for the London and Southern Division, said:

“We are grateful to Plymouth City Council for giving us the opportunity to work in the team that is focused on carrying out this important retrofitting work to Plymouth public sector estate.”

This project, which provides further opportunities to extend a heat network within Plymouth city centre as a comprehensive redevelopment programme to serve other developments in the future, received grant funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), which is administered by Salix on behalf of the Government’s Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Pixar’s philosophy, sexy pipes, and making friends and keeping them friendly – my reflections on another successful Vital Energi event.

By Abby Whitelock, Marketing & Communications Director

Now that the dust has settled, the pop-up banners stored away and the superb food we were served fully digested, it’s time to reflect on an enormously successful ‘Future of Energy’ event in Glasgow.

Feedback about the event has been glowing, with attendees describing the event as “illuminating”, “relevant”, and “engaging”. None of this would have been possible without our “impressive” line-up of speakers who truly brought the day to life, and the incredible delegates who engaged with the event so brilliantly.

Session one was all about the future of our industry, a Q&A hosted by the University of Strathclyde’s Amy Ritchie who interviewed three future energy champions: Vital Energi’s own Caitlin Villanueva, Jack Ord from STAR Refrigeration, and Ricardo’s Aniruddha Chhatre.

Hearing how the next generation views the energy industry through its unique lens was fascinating and informative. Young people clearly want to know the real world impact of the work they’re doing and value a company which embraces flexible working. A lack of role models in the industry stood out as a key message for me, as well as the need for big business to work more closely with secondary and higher education bodies to ‘sell’ a career in green energy. Caitlin who, like me, is a member of the District Heating Divas, talked eloquently about the need for companies to consider the physical work environment for women in particular (e.g. providing PPE that actually fits!) and the danger of unconscious bias in job adverts.

Next up, my colleagues Nick Gosling and Scott Lutton hosted a session on the minefield that is unlocking funding and commercial support for heat networks. The discussion centred around potential solutions to overcome the barriers, such as the need for increased regulation to build customer confidence, enhanced statutory powers, and greater public awareness of the benefits the sector offers.

Of particular interest were the comments made by Colin Hudson of the National Wealth Fund (NWF). Colin provided key insights into the NWF’s core sectors to target, which include digital & technologies, advanced manufacturing, and transport. With a £5.8 billion budget set to be deployed across carbon capture, port infrastructure, green steel, green hydrogen, and gigafactories over the course of this Parliament.

Vital Energi has first-hand experience of the benefits an institution such as the NWF bring to communities. Recently, the NWF issued funding to its first heat network project in Solihull, which Vital Energi will be designing and building. Knowing support like this exists is essential to businesses like ours, impatient to drive change in a market which is quite risk adverse.

In session three, I was intrigued by Ross Ramsay from the Scottish Futures Trust who said more companies could benefit from the philosophy of animation giant Pixar. It believes that “you get great creative people, you bet big on them, you give them enormous leeway and support, and you provide them with an environment in which they can get honest feedback from everyone”. The point really is you empower people to take risks, to push barriers, and you don’t crush them if they get it wrong. Ross also emphasised the importance of “making friends and keeping them friendly”, stressing that strong relationships are crucial for overcoming challenges in a project. It was great to hear from Vital’s friend, Ener-vate’s Steve Hunt, and I did chuckle when Sarah-Jane McArthur from Brodies described lawyers as “the project prevention unit”.

Next, Polly Cook from Leeds City Council and Rhea Marsden from the SWAN Heat Network talked us through the Leeds PIPES project and the large new heat network in Westminster. SWAN will see heat captured from innovative sources such as the London Underground, the Thames, and the sewer network, becoming one of the UK’s first heat network zones. The Leeds PIPES heat network is an innovative and reliable district heating solution that brings heat and hot water into taps, radiators, and heating systems to over 2,500 buildings and residences. It currently uses heat created as a by-product of burning Leeds’s non-recyclable waste. Both are Vital projects, of course, and both show the sort of innovative thinking we’re famous for.

Finally, it was my turn. Together with Tanita Addario from Aberdeen City Council, we started by asking what ‘Social Value’ and ‘Community Benefits’ meant to the audience. It’s clear those phrases mean different things to different people, but the two words that came up more than any others were education and engagement.

For me, the Torry Heat Network project in Aberdeen, on which we were the main contractor, is an exemplar of best practice here. What we learnt from it was to engage early and consult, take people on the journey with you. To achieve this, your messaging must be tailored to the specific people you are speaking to. All our promotional material, published long before spades went in the ground, was produced in three languages to speak to the diverse Torry community and included a direct point of contact for enquiries. And we listened, understanding that in an area of high poverty, heating costs were a key concern. The crucial task of stakeholder mapping helped us to understand the community’s worries, allowing us to address them in our communications and alleviate any concerns.

We also went into local schools with our STEM-approved ‘Climate Education Programme’ to try and inspire and educate young people about, yes you guessed it, the future of energy.

Jessica Cooke, Senior Planner at AECOM wrote on LinkedIn that it was “a pleasure to attend” the conference and added “The renewable energy sector is indeed at an exciting juncture!”

Rhea Marsden, Head of Connections at SWAN Heat Network, wrote, “events like this are a great reminder that the industry is heading in the right direction”. And Dr Roddy Yarr, Director of Sustainability at the University of Glasgow and Associate Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy, was very complimentary, writing “Vital’s can-do and approachable attitude continues to deliver positive impact.”

If you want to join us at one of our future events, email [email protected] to be placed on a waitlist.

Plans for an energy centre in Liverpool with renewable technologies to help provide low carbon heat and hot water to residents and businesses have been approved by Liverpool City Council yesterday(16 February).

The Peel NRE facility between Great Howard Street and Sherwood Street is expected to save around 4,200 tonnes of carbon per year, this will be achieved through the primary use of water source heat pumps and thermal stores to provide heat to Peel NRE’s Mersey Heat district heat network.

It includes plans for two 3MW water source heat pumps which would work on an ‘open loop’ system to take heat from water abstracted from the Leeds/Liverpool canal before pumping it back into the dock system.

Two thermal stores capable of holding 260 cubic metres of hot water will also be installed alongside heat only gas boilers with a combined capacity of up to 40MW as a backup, and for use during times of peak demand.

The energy centre will provide heat for up to 9,000 homes and 4 million sq ft of commercial space at Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters development, it will also connect to other key developments in the area.  The project is part funded by the Merseyside Pension Fund.

Planning permission has been granted for a state-of-the-art new carbon-capture facility at Lingley Mere business park in Warrington.

The project, Mersey Biochar, will lock away thousands of tonnes of carbon a year into biochar, a versatile product with a range of uses from improving soil quality to decarbonising the construction industry. Led by climate-action organisations Severn Wye Energy Agency and Pure Leapfrog, a consortium of experts is behind the project which will be hosted by United Utilities at Lingley Mere business park. Construction is due to begin in November, with the unit supplied by PyroCore and the facility built by energy specialists Vital Energi.

Capturing carbon and other greenhouse gases will be critical for the UK’s plans to meet net zero by 2050 and the facility promises to make an important contribution to the country’s carbon-capture potential.

Vital Energi’s Associate Design Manager Rob Greenwood, says:

‘We are delighted to be part of the consortium which will deliver this innovative new project. With the UK set to continue using oil and gas in the short term, carbon capture has the potential to play a huge part in the UK’s transition from fossil fuels to a net zero economy and this project can demonstrate an innovative new application for an existing, trusted technology.’

Mersey Biochar will capture carbon from green waste or ‘biomass’, in this case a byproduct of local forestry management, which would otherwise release its carbon back into the atmosphere as it decays. The carbon is locked in through a process called pyrolysis, which heats the biomass in a virtually oxygen-free environment without the noise or fumes commonly associated with other types of burning. The resulting biochar stores the carbon for centuries and every tonne produced can remove up to 3.6 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. The facility is expected to produce 700 tonnes of biochar each year.

Research into the viability of the process was funded by the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero which then made a further £5m available to scale-up the concept as part of the Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage Scheme.

Planning permission was secured by integrated planning, design, environment, engineering and safety consultancy Mabbett & Associates Ltd, with no objections to the proposals.

The approval of planning permission for the Warrington site is just the start of this exciting project. The vision for the site is that nothing will go to waste; once the facility’s carbon-capture capabilities are proven, the heat generated by the process is intended to be redirected to heat and power United Utilities’ buildings – part of the company’s long-term sustainability goals.

As United Utilities’ Bioresources and Green Energy Director, Tom Lissett, explains:

‘We are excited to host this innovative technology which opens up the opportunity to decarbonise our office heating requirements at Lingley Mere by capturing and using the heat which is created during the pyrolysis process. It is an important step forward for us in our journey to decarbonising our head office in Warrington.’

Mersey Biochar is funded by the UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero through their Direct Air Capture and Greenhouse Gas Removal innovation programme, established to find new and inventive ways of reducing UK carbon emissions.

Mae'r dudalen hon ar gael yn y Gymraeg yma.

20 children from Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Tonyrefail stepped out of their classes and into a day of renewable energy, engaging with a trip to the impressive 9,400 panel Coed Ely solar farm and an interactive session with Rhondda Cynon Taff’s Eco Avengers Programme.

The students learned about renewable energy production and witnessed first-hand how the solar farm operated, generating 6MW of electricity, 1MW of which is exported to the nearby Royal Glamorgan Hospital.  The team from Vital Energi and RCT were there to help children understand how the installation will reduce carbon emissions by 7,300 tonnes over its lifecycle and why that’s important for the climate and the planet.

Lisa Martin, Social Value and Customer Care Manager for Vital Energi explains “Vital Energi’s core mission is to protect our planet for future generations, so an event like this really brings home how important projects like the Coed Ely Solar Farm are in bringing children on a journey with us to build awareness, empower their understanding and inspire action for a sustainable future.”

In addition to the tour, pupils attended RCT Council’s Eco Avengers Workshop, which involved creating their own renewable energy superheroes, teaching children the pros and cons of different non-renewable and renewable energy sources, whilst also discussing what energy we use in our everyday lives. At the end of the workshop, pupils were awarded a certificate of participation stating that they are now officially part of the Eco Avengers.

The school visit is the latest social value initiative on the project which has been designed to maximise local economic spend, increase local employment and support local charities to leave a lasting legacy.  Lisa Martin concludes, “We’ve also been lucky enough to tour and donate to the nearby Coalfields Flower Farm gaining a true understanding of their social enterprise and the impact their work has on the mental health, and wellbeing in the community.”

Work is now complete on the build of the Paul Younger Centre, Hebburn’s Renewable Energy Centre, which will now provide renewable heat to buildings and residents in the town.

The new modern building, located in the heart of the town on land off Victoria Road West, houses a two stage 450kw air to water source heat pump solution which takes ambient heat from the air and converts it into low-temperature-hot-water to provide reliable, low carbon heating.

The project has been delivered by South Tyneside Council in partnership with Vital Energi and Driver Group.

The air source heat pumps have allowed the council to reduce its reliance on traditional, gas-fired boilers, help to cut carbon emissions by approximately 320 tonnes per year and significantly contributed to the Council’s climate change aspirations of becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

Alongside the design and build of the energy centre, Vital Energi has also installed a district heating network which distributes heat to the customers including the residents of Durham Court and Hebburn Central Leisure Centre, with potential for further connections to be added in the future.

Electricity generated locally using solar panels and a Combined Heat and Power unit is helping to power the system.

The building is named after Hebburn-born Professor Paul Younger, one of the region’s pioneering scientists, who played a key role in the bid to make Newcastle a City of Science and Technology.

The scheme, which secured over £4.8million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund, has been developed in collaboration with the Coal Authority and Durham University.

South Tyneside Council have set ambitious carbon targets of net zero carbon in operations by 2030 and one of the projects which will be driving those emission reductions is the Hebburn Renewable Energy Scheme.

The Paul Younger Energy Centre which supplies the heat network, is currently starting to take shape, with the steel framework installation progressing well. The building will house a two stage 450kw air to water source heat pump solution which will take ambient heat from the air and convert it into low-temperature-hot-water to provide reliable, lower carbon heating.

Air source heat pumps used for the scheme minimise the use of traditional, gas-fired boilers, which will enable the project to deliver carbon savings of approximately 319 tonnes per year.

The build of the energy centre follows the completion of the district heating network infrastructure installation and connection works for residential development Durham Court, and Hebburn Central leisure centre, over the past 18 months, with plans for more buildings to be added in the future.

The building is named after Professor Paul Younger, one of the region’s pioneering scientists, who played a key role in the bid to make Newcastle a City of Science and Technology.

The project is due for completion by the end of 2023.

Work on our £25m project with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust is taking shape as we work towards completion at Nottingham City Hospital by the end of the year.

Nottingham City Hospital was the last coal-run hospital site in the UK, so we’ve installed energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies to replace the aged gas and coal fired boilers, and have replaced the old laundry building with a brand-new energy centre. When demolishing the laundry building, we had to ensure the underground plantroom, service ducts and live services running under the demolition area were not affected.

The 287kW solar PV arrays on the roof spaces are installed, commissioned, and now supply electricity to the hospital, and the 350kW air source heat pumps are in situ and ready to be commissioned. We’ve upgraded 6,626 lights across the hospital to LED fittings, which not only reduces energy consumption, but enhances the patient experience in both the wards and common areas too.

We’ve also installed 1.1km of new pipework in the underground service ducts which supply steam, condensate, and low temperature hot water pipework to 36 plantrooms. During the installation, we ensured service of supply was not interrupted and that there was a seamless changeover.

Once complete, this project will reduce the Trust’s carbon footprint by 14,000 tonnes a year, and guarantee energy savings of at least £1.3m a year for the Nottingham City Hospital.

Read more about the project here.

Work is now complete on our Mechanical Infrastructure and Mechanical Fit Out package for Berkeley’s prestigious West End Gate development, which is situated near Marylebone and Little Venice.

The development comprises four blocks – B, D, E and F which are part of the Affordable Houses and Asquith House blocks. Blocks B and D contain 108 apartments over 10 storeys, whilst blocks E and F are made up of 108 apartments set over 18 floors. The ground floors of each of the four blocks consist of retail spaces and striking entrance lobbies, and the development boasts first-class resident facilities, including a cinema room, private gym, swimming pool and spa.

We delivered essential infrastructure and apartment fit outs across each of the four blocks, which included the installation of low temperature hot water and boosted cold water services within each property, fitting of Heat Interface Units (HIUs), along with chilled pipework, flat duct, internal plumbing, and sprinkler pipework. All wet riser systems, fire stopping systems, and smoke extracts systems have all been fitted and tested t

Apartments have now been handed over to Berkeley Homes, and residents have turned each dwelling into a home.