Talk title: Introduction to Heat Network Scotland
Speaker: Antoine Reguis, Heat Network Scotland
Event: CIBSE Scotland Conference 2026: Heating the Future, 27 May 2026
Video: https://youtu.be/OS9w-SHUkH0

[00:00] I'm Antoine Reguis. I'm one of the founding directors of Heat Network Scotland. A quick explanation about where I come from, I did a PhD some years ago, finished two years ago with Edinburgh City Council and Vattenfall, looking at how to connect existing buildings to low-temperature heat, and through that journey, we realised that there was a lack of a go-to place for knowledge exchange around heat network in Scotland, putting people together, joining the dots.

[00:34] So we worked on the concept of a new not-for-profit organisation. So Heat Network Scotland was registered two months ago, so it's very new. It's a membership-based organisation bringing together the industry, academia, communities, local and central government to support the development of heat network in Scotland with clean, affordable, resilient energy system.

[01:00] So we have four pillars. The first is we only look at heat networks. That will take us to look at many more things, but we always go back at... How can we support heat network development? We look at the Scottish context. Yes, power is not doable, but we look at what's the specificities of the generation wind turbine. The landscape is very specific to Scotland, and housing archetypes are also specific.

[01:28] Third is trusted, independent and strong voice. We want our members to be, yes, the industry, but we are not the voice of the industry because in the members, we have local authorities. Legal advice, consumer Scotland, Scottish government is also part of our membership. And a sustainable funding model. We don't want to rely on a grant, a contract. We want to be sure we can engage on the long term. So it's mostly membership-based, but we are also very open for support.

[01:56] Scottish Enterprise may support us at some point, which would be very welcome. So the team, four directors. Professor Jammer accepted to be the chair. And then we have a steering group meeting every Monday. We also have an advisory group. And now that we have finished the relaunch phase, we are merging the two. So you will see very familiar faces from CBC Scotland is one of our funding members.

[02:28] And then, so we, by the end of March, that was our deadline to have funding members to register their interest. So we have 54 funding members. And that's... Across, you see funding, skills, the heat network, experts, the supply chain, public sector. So we are very happy to show that we engage with everybody. Where are we? So we are hosted at Edinburgh Future Institute with Centre for Net Zero High Density Building.

[02:56] But that sits also for the Centre for Future Infrastructure. So it's really, we are at the right place. And the building is on the heat network, which is a good thing. And our members. So that happens. This map has to be updated because that was... We have people from London, from all across the UK now. So what are we doing? So we had a lot of brainstorming. What is important to progress on heat network development?

[03:23] And that has been covered this morning. So after a few meetings, we say there's a lot of important things. How can we make sure we get that organised? So we've tried to identify some things, organise them, and come with proposal. So this proposal of working groups will be discussed with founding members. And we may merge some of them, maybe split some others. And there was a strong request from local authorities to have a knowledge hub for them when they own and operate the heat network.

[03:54] So we are working on that. So that's a proposal. And between now and September, we are looking at each one of the priority. So what we have started to do, and what we are going to do in the coming months and years, is first get together. We have a newsletter coming in the coming weeks that will be shared. A series of webinars, seminars that could come from our proposal, that could come from academics and research from founding members saying I've got an interesting case study.

[04:25] Yes, we are the echo chamber for whatever you would like to share. We are working on knowledge hub, skills development, having some CPDs we are working on. And then engaging with research. And finally, we have policy makers. So an example of what we have done is raising awareness with elected members because we realize that sometimes elected members, they have a very, they look a lot of, they are very busy and heat network is not always on their radar.

[05:01] So we try to engage with them with the support of officers. And we had a workshop and we, in November, and the following up a follow-up in two weeks. And that was at the city chamber in Edinburgh. We engage with the parliament that was also in November. We had a heat source review for heat networks in Scotland. That was in May last year. Very successful.

[05:27] Since the heat network Scotland has been registered. So Helen Maloney, one of the other founding director has worked a lot about engaging with Scottish government and answering consultations. So Helen Maloney, one of the other founding director has worked a lot about engaging with Scottish government and answering consultations. And lastly, last week, we were at all energy with very well attended sessions. And for next year, we really want to have a heat network zone, which is we with a lot of visibility for the sector.

[05:52] Next, we have our launch event in three weeks in Edinburgh. And then after that, we have between now and September to be up and ready with all the working groups in place. A new visual identity. And then after that, we have between now and September to be up and ready with all the working groups in place. A new visual identity. And then after that, we have between now and September to be up and ready with all the working groups in place. New data set up, etc.