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Oct 14, 2024

Out of steam | Imperial News | Imperial College London

We’ve done it! The last traces of the old steam heating and hot water network have been removed from South Kensington Campus. As the temporary infrastructure and safety hoardings are removed over the

We’ve done it! The last traces of the old steam heating and hot water network have been removed from South Kensington Campus.

As the temporary infrastructure and safety hoardings are removed over the rest of the summer, and space returned to normal use, it will soon be forgotten what a transformation has taken place. Completion of this major programme ends our reliance on old gas-fired steam boilers, aging infrastructure up to 60 years old in places, and reduces our carbon footprint towards achieving a net zero estate by 2040.

In 2022 Imperial was awarded a Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant of more than £12m which contributed towards the circa £40m cost of this project to remove the steam-based heating network, one of the largest in London.

By moving the whole of the South Kensington Campus to a low temperature hot water system running at 80oC we are prepared for future heat decarbonisation as part of the Net Zero Strategy.

While there are some steam-specific services remaining on campus, these are purely for necessary research programmes and not part of the heating and hot water network.

The benefits of the works are significant:

Temporary steam and Low Temperature Hot Water (LTHW boilers), supported by local boilers supplied the heat throughout last winter. As with any ambitious project there were some difficulties, temporary interruptions to heating and hot water in specific areas, and some slightly cooler than usual temperatures on occasions. Thanks go to everyone across the campus who bore with this for the long-term benefits ahead.

Vital Energi MSL, PIMS, were delivery partners, and our Project Management Consultant Arup, working with our in-house Special Projects Programme Manager Rod Coppard.

Looking back at what has been done:

It has been a remarkable engineering and logistics achievement in a very short time frame.