Camden Lock
The Camden Lock’s mixed-use development combines residential, commercial and leisure facilities in the heart of one of London's most vibrant boroughs. Working alongside Mace and the wider project team, we delivered a complete low-carbon energy solution comprising a basement-level energy centre and district heating and cooling network serving the development.
Camden Lock Village is a 50,000m² mixed-use development incorporating 195 residential dwellings, commercial space, a food quarter, cinema, school and refurbished railway arch premises. The development also includes significant public realm improvements and the refurbishment of existing Network Rail viaducts.
With no nearby heat network available for connection, the development required its own low-carbon energy infrastructure. The solution consisted of a new energy centre and a district heating and cooling network designed to provide reliable and efficient energy across the site.
Vital Energi worked closely with Mace and the professional team to deliver both the energy centre and district heating network, while also enhancing elements of the original design to improve constructability on the constrained urban site.
One key improvement was the introduction of twin pipework where practical, helping to reduce excavation requirements and minimise disruption within the congested development.
The energy centre is located in the lower basement level of the development and forms the heart of the site’s energy infrastructure. It houses:
Together, these assets provide heating, cooling and hot water to residential, retail and commercial spaces throughout the development.
The wider network installation comprised five district heating networks and two district cooling networks, connecting the energy centre to three residential blocks and 31 retail arches through a buried distribution system.
The Vital team had a good industry and energy centre knowledge to bring to the project, they knew what they were talking about and had a very good level of communications, good reporting and a good point of contact in the relevant teams.
A single energy centre and district heating and cooling network provide efficient heating, hot water and cooling to residential, commercial and leisure facilities across the development.
Design enhancements reduced excavation requirements and enabled installation within one of London’s most congested development sites.
Close collaboration with Mace, Network Rail and other contractors ensured the safe delivery of both the energy centre and distribution network while maintaining programme objectives.
The project represents another successful decentralised energy scheme delivered within the London Borough of Camden, helping support the borough’s commitment to low-carbon development.
We joined the partnership with a remit to evolve the design and deliver the project, but before that, we needed to model the energy data to predict how the system would generate and consume energy and this included how much excess energy would be available from the North Sea wind farms. To achieve this, we looked at historical data, meteorological data (wind) and created an in-depth model to predict the amount of electricity Simpsons Malt could use within the electric boiler in an average year.
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