An innovative heat network project delivered through a collaboration of FairHeat, Guru Systems and The Guinness Partnership was awarded the accolade of heat network project of the year at this week’s Network Magazine awards.

The award, which aims to highlight outstanding heat network projects that demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and to the communities they serve, recognised the achievements of The Guinness Partnership’s Quayside, Totnes development in setting new standards for the industry.

The development of 60 new apartments for the over 55s, close to the River Dart has benefitted from a low temperature, next generation heat network.

This was developed after Guinness joined forces with Guru Systems and FairHeat to use ground breaking data analytics and market leading acceptance testing processes and monitoring to deliver a best in class scheme for low cost and low carbon heat for customers.

Other partners that made the scheme a success included Whitehead Building Services, who designed the Totnes scheme using FairHeat’s Heat Network Design Supplement. This document acts as a bridge between clients’ requirements and the ADE CIBSE Heat Networks Code of Practice.

These innovations enabled Guinness to specify exactly how they wanted the scheme to perform and identify performance issues before homes were handed over to customers. This resulted in a heat network that achieved flow temperatures of 60 degrees and return temperatures of 33 degrees, delivering low cost and low carbon heat for customers.

Casey Cole, Managing Director of Guru Systems, said:

“The excellent performance of this scheme is a significant step forward for the heat network sector, and it is great to see its achievements recognised through this award.Heat networks are playing a crucial part in the UK’s transition to a low-cost, low carbon energy system and through our collaboration with FairHeat and The Guinness Partnership, we have demonstrated that these systems can perform to the highest standards.”

Gareth Jones, Managing Director of FairHeat, said:

“Heat networks have become a component of the UK’s energy landscape. Their importance is only set to grow following the Government’s announcement of new standards that will see the end of fossil fuel heating systems in new build dwellings from 2025.This means it is more important than ever to ensure that networks operate at the expected efficiency and reliably deliver cost effective heat to residents.The Quayside project is an outstanding example of the performance levels that heat networks can achieve by ensuring that networks are specified, designed and commissioned correctly, with the right data available to enable testing and ongoing monitoring. This scheme demonstrates the potential for heat networks to make low cost, low carbon heat a reality.”