Cardiff district heating scheme connects to infrastructure, cutting emissions

A Stantec-supported district heating scheme in Cardiff is now connected to surrounding infrastructure, helping provide hot water for municipal buildings and local homes. 

The Cardiff District Heating Network uses heat already being produced at Viridor's Trident Park Energy Recovery Facility. It takes steam from an existing steam turbine and uses it to heat water, which is then pumped around Cardiff Bay via a new network installed by Cardiff Council. 

Stantec was the principal designer on the Trident Park Heat Offtake Project, which has the capacity to supply up to 15 megawatts of heat from the Viridor facility to the new network. Following modifications to the plant that was originally designed for electricity export only, the heat offtake is expected to save around 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases every year.  

Stantec’s team worked on the design and procurement phases and supported commissioning activities for Viridor. Stantec provided full detailed designs, including process, mechanical, control, electrical, and safety engineering.

Seventy-eight council-owned apartments in a converted office block are the first residential properties to benefit from the system. The network is expected to provide heat and hot water to many more buildings across the city throughout 2026. 

“This is an innovative scheme contributing to the circular economy in Wales. Our teams always enjoy working from design right through to the commissioning of these projects as we get to see the fruits of our labours,” said Peter Brothwell, senior technical specialist at Stantec. “Finding solutions to complex problems is one of the most rewarding parts of the job, especially when improvements can be replicated across other sites and feed into our next project.” 

Upon completion of this project, Cardiff now has a reliable, lower carbon heat network.