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    Technical Notes 2025, Issue 116 - Kirkintilloch Town Centre Heat Network Feasibility Study

    • TN Number:

      116-25

    • Subject:

      Kirkintilloch Town Centre Heat Network Feasibility Study

    • Responsible Officer:

      Niall Urquhart, Sustainability & Planning Policy Manager

    • Publication:

      This Technical Note will be published on the Council’s website following circulation to Members. Its contents may be disclosed or shared outwith the Council.

    • The Scottish Government’s Heat Network Support Unit (HNSU) has confirmed that East Dunbartonshire Council’s funding bid for feasibility work to identify heat network potential in Kirkintilloch Town Centre has been successful. The HNSU has offered 100% funding up to £50,000 to investigate the technical and commercial viability of a low cost and zero direct emission heat network at the site
    • Kirkintilloch town centre was identified in the Council’s Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) (see section 7.6) as the site with greatest heat network potential in East Dunbartonshire. This feasibility study presents a unique opportunity that, subject to technical and economic feasibility, could set the groundwork to pioneer a novel approach to heat decarbonisation in East Dunbartonshire
    • Undertaking feasibility work for a heat network at this site is a core action in the LHEES Delivery Plan (see action 10), which was approved by Council in December 2024. The LHEES’s accompanying Heat Network Zone Review Statement recognises the potential for designating a Heat Network Zone (HNZ) in Kirkintilloch town centre. A HNZ is an area designated as particularly suitable for a heat network under the Heat Networks (Scotland) Act 2021. Designation of a HNZ would have implications for new developments within its boundary including a potential requirement to connect to the heat network, in addition to implications for the Council’s Local Development Plan, which must include information on any designated HNZs
    • The study will take a sequential approach to establish the technical and economic feasibility for a heat network, where each step advises on the requirement for proceeding to the next:
      • Establish feasibility for a core network (centred on the Southbank Marina, connecting the cluster of suitable properties nearby)
      • Establish feasibility for an extended network (connecting other suitable public-sector, commercial and residential properties within a viable distance)
      • Assess the potential to designate a HNZ in the area
    • The image below shows the proposed study area (outlined in blue), where clusters of buildings which could have sufficient heat demand density for a commercially viable heat network will be further investigated (see section 7.6 in the LHEES for additional information). The scale of heat network opportunity and the geographic boundary for the potential HNZ will be determined by the feasibility study outcomes.

    the proposed study area (outlined in blue), where clusters of buildings which could have sufficient heat demand density for a commercially viable heat network will be further investigated

    • This proposed area includes approximately 15 public-sector properties (the majority of which are owned by the Council), 1 commercial property and 1 housing development with social housing units
    • Accordingly, properties considered for the potential core network will include:
      • Lairdsland Early Years Centre
      • Lairdsland Primary School
      • St. Ninian's High School
      • New College Lanarkshire
      • Southbank House
      • Kirkintilloch Marina
      • Police Scotland, Kirkintilloch
      • 21 Southbank Road
      • Enterprise House
      • McGregor House
      • Sainsbury’s supermarket
      • Housing development on Southbank Road.

    The potential extended network will include:

    • Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre
    • Kirkintilloch Health and Care Centre
    • Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex
    • William Patrick Library
    • Lenzie Academy (proposed redevelopment).

    • The Sustainability Team are working with colleagues in Assets & Facilities to prepare additional information that has been sought by the HNSU, such as further details on the buildings within the heat network area. Once this information has been shared with the HNSU, the Council will progress the process to procure consultants to undertake the feasibility work
    • A funding bid was also submitted to the HNSU for feasibility work on heat network potential in Bearsden, which has the second highest linear heat density in East Dunbartonshire. The HNSU advised that the bid was unsuccessful but could be revisited following the outputs of the Kirkintilloch feasibility study
    • For additional information, please contact niall.urquhart@eastdunbarton.gov.uk.