Manchester Heat for Manchester's Homes.
Manchester Heat for Manchester's Homes.
The Manchester Heat Highway would connect local heat network zones into one stronger regional system, capturing wasted heat from data centres, industry, wastewater, energy-from-waste sites and other local sources.
The Bee Network for Heat.
The Bee Network for Heat.
The Bee Network brought buses back under local control and created a cleaner, more joined-up regional transport system. The Manchester Heat Highway could apply the same logic to energy.
NO HEAT WASTED.
A Manchester Heat Highway could keep homes warmer, bills lower and local heat from going to waste.
Clean Heat Built the Manchester Way.
Instead of every heat network zone needing to solve clean heat alone, Manchester could build shared publicly-owned infrastructure that works for everyone.
The pipes are long-term infrastructure. The heat sources can change over time. That means homes connected today could benefit from better, cheaper and cleaner heat sources in the future without replacing their whole heating system again.
70% of Manchester Agrees: Build the Heat Highway
EnergiRaven’s Manchester polling found strong support for the proposed Heat Highway route, with 69.6% support and only 1.4% opposition among Manchester respondents.
An £18 Billion Heat Dividend.
Instead of large-scale heat pumps alone, utilising waste heat can save Greater Manchester over £18 Billion over a 20 year period on capital expenditure and energy generation.
Future Proofing Manchester's Heat. For Good.
Future Proofing Manchester's Heat. For Good.
Advancing the Green Energy Transition
Viegand Maagøe is a leading Danish consultancy helping cities, utilities, and the energy and industrial sector deliver large-scale, low-carbon heat solutions. Specialising in regional and city-wide heat networks, waste heat recovery, strategic transmission infrastructure and sector coupling, they bring the experience required for projects of this ambition.
Their expertise combines engineering, financing, and business case modelling, enabling councils, utilities, industries, and ESCOs to turn ambitious decarbonisation plans into reality.
Use Local Heat First.
FURTHER READING
FAQs
The Manchester Heat Highway is a proposed city-wide heat network that would move low-cost heat through underground insulated pipes to homes, public buildings, businesses and new developments. Instead of each area generating its own heat separately, the Heat Highway would connect local heat network zones into one stronger system, making better use of waste heat from industry, data centres, wastewater treatment works, energy-from-waste facilities and other large-scale sources.
Large heat pumps will still have a role, but relying on them alone in every zone risks higher costs and duplicated investment. Greater Manchester already has significant sources of usable waste heat. By capturing that heat and moving it to where it is needed, the city can reduce the amount of new heat that has to be generated. Analysis by EnergiRaven with Viegand Maagøe suggests that using 85% waste heat and 15% large-scale heat sources could save £18.34 billion over 20 years compared with a zoning-only approach based on large-scale air source heat pumps in each zone.
New developments need reliable, affordable and low-carbon heat. A Heat Highway could give housing developers, regeneration areas and local heat network developers access to lower-cost recovered heat, reducing the need for each development to install its own major heat generation plant. This could lower capital costs, reduce delivery risk and help new homes connect to cleaner heat from the start.
EnergiRaven polling found strong support in Manchester. Around 70% of Manchester respondents supported the proposed Heat Highway route, with only a very small proportion opposed. The strongest reason for support was practical: lower energy bills. Respondents also supported the idea because of local investment, job creation, regional benefits and the opportunity for Greater Manchester to lead the UK’s first Heat Highway.
Yes. The proposal is inspired by the Copenhagen model, where heat is treated as strategic city infrastructure rather than something solved building by building. Copenhagen’s district heating system connects many heat sources, transmission routes, local networks and customers into one integrated system. Manchester does not need to copy Denmark exactly, but it can apply the same principle: recover useful heat where it is available, move it to where it is needed, and plan clean heat as long-term infrastructure.
