Connecting
to Leeds PIPES
The Leeds PIPES network provides homes, businesses and public buildings with affordable, reliable, low carbon heat and hot water. We’re regularly expanding the network and connecting more buildings to the benefits of district heating so there has never been a better time to connect.
If you own a development or manage an existing building near the Leeds PIPES heat network then you can still connect. If you live in a connected building but your home is yet to be set up then it isn’t too late to join. Find out more about the benefits and how to connect to Leeds PIPES below.
Non-residential buildings connected
Lower carbon than air source heat pumps (typically)
Megawatt-hours of heat supplied last year
Estimated total energy savings of our customers this financial year
Register your interest
We’re regularly expanding the network and connecting more buildings to the benefits of district heating. Get in touch today to discuss the opportunity of connecting to Leeds PIPES so that you too can benefit from our growing heat network.
*Registering your interest places you under no obligation to proceed
Why should I connect?
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Demonstrable environmental benefits
Heat from the Leeds PIPES heat network is low carbon, emitting just 0.037kg of CO2e per kWh—or a sixth of the carbon intensity of using fossil fuel gas. Connecting to our network is a demonstrable way of supporting your organisation’s carbon reduction goals, net zero transition plan, or ESG targets. You’ll also be helping to improve local air quality because district heating emits no pollution at the point of use.
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Supports compliance
Connecting to our network will support your Leeds planning application by supporting compliance with current local planning policy EN1 (Carbon Reduction), EN2 (Sustainable Construction) and EN4 (District Heating).
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Stable and predictable pricing
Unlike methane gas heating solutions, we’re less impacted by global prices, so you can have more confidence planning future energy costs. We index our heat price to be competitive against alternative solutions (including gas boilers or electric heat pumps) now and into the future.
Heat networks are becoming a regulated market, meaning that Leeds PIPES customers will benefit from additional protections. We’re already compliant with all of the regulations expected to be introduced by OFGEM.
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Reduced capital and operational expenses
Connecting to Leeds PIPES heat network can reduce the capital and operational expenditure required for your development or building, compared to alternative heating technologies. Using district heating can reduce your requirements for electrical grid capacity and reduce or eliminate your requirements for methane gas. There’s no need to buy or maintain a local standby boiler or heat pump as Leeds PIPES offers a reliable, instant, and near limitless supply.
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Reliable and resilient heat
We designed the Leeds PIPES network with resilience in mind. A second energy centre houses back-up boilers that can be relied on should the network ever require top-up or back-up heat. We’ve also installed connection points along the network and at each connected building to enable temporary boilers to provide heat as a fail-safe backup.
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Maintained and replaced by Vital Energi
Our trained district heating engineers are based locally and are on-call 24/7 to respond to any issues that you ever experience within hours, any day of the year. Vital Energi will have responsibility to operate, maintain, and provide lifecycle replacements for the heat substation in your plantroom for the length of your Heat Agreement—giving your building management peace of mind.
What are the benefits for building
users and residents?
As well as all of the reasons above to connect your building to Leeds PIPES, there’s also plenty of benefits for your building users too. Thousands of residents and employees across Leeds are already enjoying living and working in a connected building.
How does the connection
process work?
Leeds PIPES district heating is currently available, or is soon to be available, in the areas of the city highlighted on the map here. If your building or development is in any of these areas then please register your interest using the form below.
A member of the Leeds PIPES team will arrange a meeting with you virtually or in-person, however you prefer.
We’ll produce an outline design, comparison document, and commercial offer based on a desktop survey for you to consider.
If you’re happy to proceed, our technical team will work with you to design a connection proposal that meets your requirements. We’ll draft and work with you to agree a Head of Terms.
We’ll work with you to produce a detailed design and legal agreement (CSA).
Once this is signed, we can begin construction and connect your building to the Leeds PIPES network.
We’ll conduct final checks and ensure you are satisfied before signing off the works.
Connections to the Leeds PIPES heat network can be considered at the early stages of a development, during construction or refurbishment, or even for existing buildings. The connection process is summarised above.
Register your interest
We’re regularly expanding the network and connecting more buildings to reap the benefits. Get in touch today to discuss the opportunity of connecting to Leeds PIPES so that you too can benefit from our growing heat network.
*Registering your interest places you under no obligation to proceed
How can I join Leeds PIPES if I
live in a connected building?
If the home you own is part of a connected building but your property has not yet been set up to receive heat from the Leeds PIPES network then it is not too late to join. The connection process for residential leaseholders is summarised below. Please contact us for more information.
You contact us to express your interest in connecting to Leeds PIPES.
We’ll confirm that you live in a connected building.
We’ll request a financial contribution to cover the cost of connection works.
Once this is paid, Housing Leeds will contact you to agree dates (typically two consecutive days) for connection works to take place.
Housing Leeds will install the following on the agreed date: New Heat Interface Unit (HIU), New internal pipework and radiators, New digital vPro2 Smart Meter.
We’ll set your account up and show you how to use Leeds PIPES district heating.
Our customers
Over 4,000 homes, commercial and public buildings have already connected. Hear their stories here…
