13 June 2018
Wednesday 13th June 2018
A leading leather manufacturer has signed a deal to take its energy supply from the Dalmarnock district heating scheme being developed in Glasgow by UK renewables firm SHARC Energy Systems.
Andrew Muirhead & Son Limited, which has an established production facility in the Dalmarnock area of the city, adjacent to the new SHARC Energy Centre, has signed up to SHARC’s innovative and cost-effective heat supply agreement.
It is the first customer of the new district heating scheme SHARC is constructing as part of the wider Clyde Gateway development.
SHARC has a network user agreement with Scottish Water Horizons, which allows them access to all of Scotland’s sewer systems, enabling them to develop other systems of this kind elsewhere in Scotland.
Russ Burton, the chief operating officer of SHARC Energy Systems, said: “We are delighted that Andrew Muirhead & Son has agreed to support our project in this way and we hope to build on the collaborative relationship we have formed over the last few months. We expect to build the heat consumption profile over the first few years and make a significant contribution to the carbon reduction targets Muirhead have established for themselves.”
Andrew Muirhead & Son has been operating in the Dalmarnock area since 1840 and employs more than 100 staff in its factory in Dunn Street, which is adjacent to the proposed Dalmarnock development.
Over its 175 years of operation, Andrew Muirhead & Son has supplied leather for many high-profile projects including the Houses of Parliament, Burj Al Arab and the Boeing 307 Stratoliner. Today, the company supplies many of the worlds leading airlines, bus, coach and rail operators and seating manufacturers.
Andrew Muirhead & Son is part of the Scottish Leather Group and along with its sister company Bridge of Weir Leather Company treat sustainability as a high priority.
Dr Warren Bowden, Scottish Leather Group Sustainability and Innovation Director said: “We’re delighted to be involved at an early stage in this exciting project which will assist Andrew Muirhead & Son to secure the next step in its journey toward fully sustainable leather manufacture.”
The design of the Dalmarnock Energy Centre has been developed to incorporate the wider SHARC operating headquarters in Scotland incorporating an operations and control centre to manage the remote monitoring service for the wider SHARC installations under construction across Scotland.
Once constructed the SHARC Energy Centre will provide the capacity to extend the heat distribution network to other buildings to be constructed on the site.
The ambition of the project is to provide a fully independent community energy scheme, that supports the onsite customers and embeds SHARC as the preferred energy technology for this and the wider Clyde Gateway development programme.
Clyde Gateway was established in 2008 to carry out the regeneration of 840 hectares across the east end of Glasgow and South Lanarkshire.
Working in partnership with Glasgow City Council, South Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government, Clyde Gateway is driving forward £1.5 billion of private sector investment to establish this area as a hub of business activity.
The success to date has been remarkable – of the 800,000 square feet of Grade A office and industrial space that Clyde Gateway has already developed, more than 85 per cent has been let or sold.
Russ added that he was “very pleased” to be supporting Clyde Gateway’s ambitions.
He said: “Having established the viability of our technology and business solution as a method for developing a low carbon / renewable district heating solution, we are delighted to be nearing financial close on the development of the project, which is also supported by the Scottish government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme.”
The Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2014-2020 programme.
Content source: http://www.sharcenergy.com/andrew-muirhead-son-signs-heat-supply-agreement-with-sharc-energy-systems/