Public buildings should be "required" to use district heating

To kick start the market for district heating schemes, public sector buildings should be required, where available and viable, to connect to existing or planned community heat networks, says a report by public/private partnership the Zero Carbon Hub and the UK Green Building Council.

The report, on sustainable community infrastructure, makes a series of proposals designed to encourage the provision of energy, water and waste infrastructure that would enable homes and buildings to become sustainable.

The two bodies also say local authorities should develop ‘sustainability option plans’, to identify opportunities to deliver sustainable community infrastructure in partnership with the private sector, and that the ‘allowable solutions’ mechanism for zero carbon buildings should be used to provide additional ring fenced capital for heat infrastructure.

The task group that compiled the report included representatives from consultancies AECOM, Buro Happold, Hyder Consulting and WSP Group.

• UK-GBC news release
• report executive summary
• full report