Delivery of a large-scale new community presents a unique opportunity to factor in key aspirations right from the outset. One such aspiration at Welborne, shared by both Master Developer Buckland Development Ltd (BDL) and Fareham Borough Council, is to deliver low and zero carbon energy.
The Government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has established a Heat Networks Delivery Unit 
, which supports local authorities to identify and evaluate opportunities to develop new heating and cooling networks.
In May 2021, Fareham Borough Council was awarded £36,850 government grant funding towards the production of a detailed techno-economic feasibility study of low carbon heat network options at Welborne in partnership with BDL.
In 2023, Welborne was awarded a Green Heat Network Fund grant to deliver up to 4.4 GWh of heat, hot water and cooling to 812 new build properties via individual, local heat pumps connected to an ambient heat network using a local Portsmouth Water reservoir as an energy source. The project is led by Last Mile Heat in partnership with Rendesco .
The study was undertaken by energy consultants Sustainable Energy and the report completed in April 2022.
The Welborne Heat Network Feasibility Study 
(4 MB) report compares two network options, a sitewide thermal network and a cluster based closed loop ambient network and concludes that an ambient cluster network is the preferred solution to provide heating to the Welborne Garden Village because it offers the lowest carbon emissions and can be built at the same rate as the housing development, lowering the risk and without the need to be futureproofed for the whole development.
In the Welborne Plan (15 MB), the Council set out its aspiration for the development at Welborne to minimise energy usage and carbon emissions. In response, BDL developed an Energy Strategy with their planning application submission, which sets out their broad aspirations for the delivery of sustainable homes at Welborne.
Going forward, no residential or commercial development can take place within a neighbourhood at Welborne (or part thereof) without an approved Energy Strategy.
The Strategy will include details such as energy efficiency through design and layout, the use of low or zero carbon technologies and innovative building methods for a specific proposed neighbourhood. It must be submitted to the Local Planning Authority for written approval before any development can get underway.
Find out more by visiting our other Welborne pages:
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