The City of Eindhoven has signed a construction team agreement with Heijmans for the design, and potential realisation and maintenance, of a collective heat grid for existing homes and buildings in the Eindhoven North East district. The first realization phase involves 1,800 rental homes, corporation property and private homes. The council will make a decision for each subsequent step and residents will be involved in each of these.
Heijmans will help to create a sustainable and affordable alternative to natural gas in Eindhoven North East and to reduce the CO2 impact of heating homes in the district. The design and realisation of the first phase will generate revenue of € 35 million for Heijmans.
The exploitation will be in the hands of the municipality, pending the Collective Heat Act. The construction team will start in September 2024.
“For our residents, it is important to thoroughly investigate an alternative to natural gas, and that includes designing a heating network. We are pleased that we now have the knowledge and expertise of Heijmans on board to put this complicated puzzle together and take the next step. For the residents of Eindhoven Noordoost, it is important to keep it feasible,” says Rik Thijs, alderman for climate and energy for the municipality of Eindhoven.
“Of course, this project will take more time and is more labour intensive than the implementation of a heat grid in a new-build district. In addition to the technical side, we have to take into account the impact on residents, local infrastructure and homes. Together with the city council, we are taking up the challenge to realise this collective heat grid to accelerate the energy transition in Eindhoven. Together, with each of us contributing our own expertise,” says Maarten Kokshoorn, Manager of Heijmans’ Energy business.
Design, realisation and maintenance
Working closely with the city council, Heijmans will design the collective heat network to make a potential 8,000 homes natural gas free. The first realisation phase will involve 1,800 homes. The agreement includes five years of maintenance. After the first five years, the city council has two options to extend the maintenance contract with Heijmans.
Heat Grid Northeast will help the City of Eindhoven to realise its ambition to cease the use of natural gas from 2050 and to realise a sustainable, green and healthy city. For now, and for the future.
Heat source
The sewage treatment plant on the Van Oldenbarneveltlaan in Eindhoven will be used as the heat source for the collective heat grid. Heijmans and the Eindhoven city council are together looking for the most efficient way to use this residual heat, so we can make affordable heat available to residents.
