Plans for London heat network underway

The mayor of London’s development corporation for Old Oak and Park Royal (OPDC) is well underway, following yesterday’s (31st March 2025) announcement that Hemiko has been chosen as the development partner for its innovative new district heat network.

The heat network scheme will see OPDC and Hemiko working together to design, deliver, fund and operate the new low carbon network, which will provide affordable, sustainable energy to over 9,000 new homes and businesses in the Old Oak and Park Royal area, as well as existing buildings including Central Middlesex Hospital.

The project will use waste heat from data centre cooling systems, a UK first, which positions London at the forefront of the UK’s transition to a low carbon, circular economy.

The first phase of OPDC’s heat network is to deliver up to 95GWh of heat a year, the equivalent of boiling around one billion kettles. Over five phases, between 2028 and 2040, the heat network will expand to serve Old Oak and Park Royal regeneration area, London’s largest new development project, with plans to build up to 25,000 homes over the next two decades.

ODPC was one of the UK’s first heat network zones announced, having been awarded £36 million from the government’s Green Heat Network Fund in November 2023. The mayor of London’s Local Energy Accelerator (LEA) programme and the mayor’s Green Finance Programme additionally provided £1.7 million to fund the technical and commercialisation work to develop the commercial case for the network.

Hemiko will now boost this even further by investing £63 million in the first phases, growing to around £600 million by 2040, which will boost economic growth and creating local jobs in West London.

Mete Coban CBE, the deputy mayor of London for environment and energy, said: “The green transition is one of the biggest economic opportunities of the 21st century.

“By capturing waste heat from data centres and using it to power heat networks, we’re not only cutting emissions but also driving down energy costs for Londoners and making our city’s infrastructure more resilient.

“The mayor and I have backed this project from the start because we know that innovation like this — bringing together the public and private sectors — is exactly what we need to build a fairer and greener London for everyone.”