Community-centred is an umbrella term to describe ways in which we design, develop and deliver projects ‘with, by, for and of’ communities. Please read on for more information on how we are (and aim to continue) doing this at SIB Community Heat. We are open to ideas, comments and feedback!
With Communities – We are currently working with groups of volunteers, charities and social enterprises who want to develop a heat network in their area. This involves using the Design Thinking approach outlined in the slide below.
By Communities – We are proud to have community representation as part of our paid independent Advisory Board. As a customer-first organisation, we value the insights, experience and knowledge our community partners share and have intentionally built a process for our partners to shape the work we do continuously.
For Communities – Being community-centred means prioritising our impact on the communities we work in, in tandem with ensuring our projects are technically and financially feasible. We test this continuously through sharing learning transparently with partners, establishing metrics to monitor and evaluate our progress and continually reaching out to new communities to ask questions and learn with!
Of Communities – As a new (and exciting!) project – we have not yet defined what our ‘communities’ look like. Acknowledging our uncertainty whilst simultaneously working intentionally to conduct research, learn from experts and collaborate with communities is a core aspect of our work.
What does this mean in practice?
Currently we have three key routes for you to engage with SIB Community Heat:
Route 1: The Heat Network
A heat network is a way to provide heat to a large number of customers through a network of underground pipes carrying hot water. They can provide heat to a small number of buildings or a whole city. This avoids the need for individual boilers or electric heaters in every building and socialises the cost as individuals contribute towards a shared energy service.
What does this look like with SIB Community Heat?
If you have already completed a feasibility study for a heat network in your area then please get in touch using our Expression of Interest form. Our model is based on supporting community energy groups with development support to further refine the technical and financial feasibility of a heat network, conduct relevant surveys and planning, set up legal service agreements for individual buildings and households and support stakeholder and community engagement with local authorities and residents. Once ready to design or build the network, we will set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that can be sold to a Heat Network Operator or construction partner to deliver. This will be sold with a ‘golden share’ to provide the community long-term voting rights without taking a financial return. By doing this together at pace, we aim to develop a replicable and scalable model which we can tailor to audiences facing greater barriers to accessing heat networks due to geography, social or financial circumstances.
Route 2: The Energy Club
An ‘Energy club’ involves the discounted bulk purchase (think Costco!) of individual heat pumps for 20-30 buildings (community assets or residential homes). This model allows us to subsidise the individual cost for each household using a mixture of grant and loan. We are also able to partner with trusted local engineers to source and install these heat pumps for quality assurance.
What does this look like with SIB Community Heat?
This model was developed as an outcome for a pilot site who were initially working towards a heat network. As heat networks require a high engagement rate from the local community and considerable physical disruption to install underground pipes, Energy clubs are a low impact alternative for a smaller scale of community. We can support community groups to ensure access to heat pumps to transition away from gas at no upfront cost. By working with each community group in our first projects, we want to develop governance models that then allow the repayment of any loans with long-term, patient capital to ensure energy security and affordable bills.
Route 3: To be discovered!
As mentioned, we’re in an (exciting!) exploratory stage of our projects and we’d be keen to hear from you or work with you to develop our current and new ideas. To make it easy to engage, we’ve set up a monthly newsletter you can sign up to here or simply send us an email on salma.perveen@sibgroup.org.uk.
Not sure on the difference between heat and electricity? It took us a minute too! Please see our friendly explainer video here:
