A £20 million heating network at the site of the former John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank has received an award.
The technology, which uses heat pumps to extract water from the River Clyde to transform into low carbon heat for homes and businesses around the Queens Quay site, scooped the just transition to a net zero economy accolade at the COSLA Excellence Awards.
West Dunbartonshire Council said the system will contribute to making Clydebank ‘one of the greenest areas in the country’ and forms a core part of its climate change strategy and action plan.
It supplies heat to council offices at Aurora House, the Titan Enterprise Centre, Clydebank Leisure Centre, and Queens Quay House Care Home. It has also connected with the new 147-property social housing development due for occupancy in the summer and will connect with the new Clydebank Health Centre in early 2023.
The low carbon system has been designed on a modular basis to enable future expansion of the heating network beyond Queens Quay to serve the Golden Jubilee Hospital, the Dalmuir flats, and potentially the Clyde Regional Shopping Centre and beyond.
Councillor Iain McLaren, convener of West Dunbartonshire Council’s infrastructure, regeneration and economic development committee, said, “I am proud to see this pioneering project getting more recognition as West Dunbartonshire leads the way on the quest to achieve the target of net zero emissions. Using a natural resource to provide energy not only benefits the environment it also supports residents and will help fuel poverty at a time when the cost of living is rising.”
