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Vital Energi have a long track record of retrofitting community energy schemes into existing housing stock and on the three 1950's estates in East London our Combined Heat and Power, Heat Interface Units, District Heating and Heat Metering solutions helped to deliver lower carbon emissions, lower fuel bills and contributed to reducing fuel poverty.
Vital Energi has helped to transform three 1950s-built estates in Shoreditch, East London, by replacing their ageing, inefficient and expensive gas and oil fired boilers with the London Borough of Hackney’s first council-owned Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant and heat network.
The Shoreditch Heat Network (SHN) went live in December 2012 and will initially serve 464 properties across three estates - Wenlock Barn, Cranston and Fairbank.
It is part of a borough-wide Decent Homes Programme by Hackney Homes, the Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) for the London Borough of Hackney, which has resulted in new windows, kitchens, bathrooms and heating and hot water systems for thousands of homes.
Vital Energi was awarded several contracts for different phases of the SHN project by Mulalley, the lead contractor carrying out Hackney’s Decent Homes Programme. We played a pivotal role in the success of the project including providing in-depth knowledge of the Homes and Communities Agency’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Initiative from which the project received funding. We also successfully met the challenge of maintaining constant heat and hot water to 464 residents throughout construction.
Vital Energi was awarded several contracts for different phases of the SHN project. We were initially commissioned to replace district heating pipes on the Cranston Estate. Having demonstrated our capability and expertise in district heating during this early part of the project, we subsequently won the contract to install riser and lateral pipes in the estate’s eight tower blocks.
The completion of two successful community heating contracts then led to us being commissioned to produce a business case detailing an energy strategy for the three estates including a feasibility study for a CHP energy centre.
The project went out to competitive tender and we were awarded the contract after demonstrating that our proposal provided best value.