Worthing Heat Network

The Worthing Heat Network was identified in 2019 in the Council’s Carbon Neutral Plan as the most economic and efficient way to decarbonise the town’s Civic Quarter.

The Worthing Heat Network will enable connected buildings to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels for heating and hot water, reducing their heating emissions by around 90%. At the Worthing Heat Network Energy Centre will be a heat pump system, collecting heat from the air. The long-term plan is to bring on more sources of locally available, unused heat.

The first buildings to connect are Worthing Town Hall, Worthing Hospital, Assembly Hall, Portland House, Worthing Museum & Art Gallery, and Connaught Theatre, with more to come over time. This first phase alone will save 3,000 tonnes of carbon a year, the equivalent to taking 2,000 cars of the road.

Protecting consumers

To ensure that the heat network delivers value and excellence for Worthing, the council has established a Governance Agreement with Hemiko, which binds Hemiko to providing low carbon heat at a fair price and with excellent customer services. From 2025, regulation will also apply in the heat networks market, giving customers added protection.

Funding

The Worthing Heat Network received over £7m of funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Heat Networks Investment Project, unlocking a further
£40m initial investment from Hemiko. In total, Hemiko plan to invest in the region of £500m by 2050 into decarbonising Worthing.

What does social value in the community of Worthing look like?

Our recent community event was an excellent opportunity to meet with the teams at Hemiko and the Adur and Worthing Council members. To keep informed about future events email us as worthing@hemiko.com.

Couldn't make it to our Community Engagement Event in Worhing on August 1st? Download a PDF of the information provided on the day.

To find out when our next event will be, keep and eye on our Worthing Heat Network page on X.

Cllr Sophie Cox, Worthing’s Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, said:

“The Worthing Heat Network is an exciting development in our transition to low carbon heating and an important milestone in our mission to be a carbon neutral council by 2030 and a net zero borough by 2045. I’m really looking forward to the council working alongside Hemiko on the next stages of the project and bringing low carbon heating to the residents and business of Worthing.”

Toby Heysham, CEO at Hemiko, said:

“We are so proud to have been selected as Worthing Borough Council’s partner for the Worthing Heat Network. We are looking forward to showing the local community that our core focus will be minimising disruption and delivering customer excellence, whilst we build out this important decarbonisation project. The Worthing Heat Network will cut the town’s emissions signifcantly, ofering improvements to air quality and public health. We will ofer dozens of jobs, apprenticeships and work experience placements to local residents, as well as volunteering hours, investment and opportunities for SMEs.”

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efciency and Green Finance, said:

“Ambitious projects like this in Worthing are why the UK is a world leader when it comes to reducing carbon emissions. We awarded over £7 million to Worthing Borough Council to help get the project of the ground, and I’m pleased to see they now have a partner in Hemiko to deliver a scheme that will beneft the whole town by delivering cheaper energy bills and lower carbon emissions. We have invested more than £500 million since 2019 to transform this sector and our new package of protections will help make sure customers can access the full benefts of heat networks.”

Ken Hunnisett, Heat Network Investment Project lead at Triple Point, said:

“District Heating and cooling will play a signifcant role in the way we decarbonise our buildings in the transition to Net Zero. Until such time as the sector becomes fnancially self-sustaining, grant funding is often required to ensure commercially viable projects. We were thrilled to be able to support Worthing Borough Council’s goal to deliver this scheme and are excited to see Hemiko bring it to life, and build on the Council’s ambition, in the months to come.”

Meet the team

Chris Horner, Project Manager for the Worthing heat network:

chris.horner@hemiko.com or 01903 337364

Get in touch

Residents can get in touch by emailing us at worthing@hemiko.com to fnd out more information or provide feedback on the project.

Our office

Trevile Gate, Worthing BN11 1UR

Worthing Heat Network

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