A new heat supply agreement between the Trust and Leeds City Council will enable the supply of low-carbon heat from the Leeds PIPES district heating network to the Trust’s internal low-carbon network, providing low-temperature hot water to 17 buildings at St James’s University Hospital.
National law firm, Bevan Brittan, which has an office in Leeds, advised the Trust on the heat supply agreement. The Leeds PIPES district heating network reportedly provides ‘affordable, reliable, and sustainable’ heat using heat recovered from the city’s recycling and energy recovery facility (RERF) – providing a low-carbon alternative to the traditional burning of fossil fuels for hot water heating. The Trust sends 100% of its general and offensive waste to RERF. In April 2022, the Beckett Wing at St James’s University Hospital became the first LTHT building to connect to Leeds PIPES.
Nathan Bradberry, a Partner from Bevan Brittan said: “It is great to see further decarbonisation of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust estate by increasing the supply capacity from the Leeds PIPES district heat network. This low-carbon heating will play a significant part in the Trust’s drive towards achieving net zero carbon emissions’’ The heat supply agreement for a bulk transfer connection into the Trust’s internal low-carbon network was complex, given the requirement to balance Leeds City Council’s obligations around the availability of heat being provided to the Trust against the Trust’s own on-site alternative heat-generating assets, and the needs of other customers on the Leeds PIPES district heating network.”
Chris Kelly, associate director of Estates at LTHT (pictured) commented: “The Trust has taken significant steps towards reducing gas consumption at the St James’s University Hospital site, by identifying buildings to be connected to the newly developed internal low-carbon heat network. This will be supplied by combined heat and power waste heat, heat pumps, and a bulk connection to the Leeds PIPES district heat network, following a Heat Sale Agreement with fellow anchor institution, Leeds City Council, supported by expert commercial legal advice from Bevan Brittan.”
LTHT has been awarded £22 m from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) fund to implement a heat decarbonisation strategy, switching to lower-carbon heating, and improving building fabric and energy efficiency measures across the Trust estate.
The Leeds PIPES network is being constructed by Leeds City Council and Vital Energi. Almost 2,000 council homes, public sector buildings (education/ healthcare/ council), and commercial businesses around Leeds City Centre will be connected to the low-carbon district heat network, which re-uses heat already being produced at the city’s RERF.