This project is part of Nesta's clean heat neighbourhoods (CHN) work, which makes the case for a more coordinated, area-based approach to decarbonising home heating in the UK.

Our work with Plymouth City Council was the first real proof point. By developing a detailed clean heat plan for a ward in the city - mapping housing stock, identifying suitable technologies area by area, and engaging local stakeholders - Plymouth demonstrated that granular planning could accelerate delivery. That process also produced something reusable: a digital tool and playbook that any local authority could follow. Before Plymouth, we had built a blueprint of what a coordinated clean heat system needs to look like. Together, these two pieces of work give us a tested methodology and a clear picture of what support local areas need. This project puts both to work across four new areas.

Running from April to August 2025, this project is the next step in scaling that approach. It will refine our tools and guidance, generate replicable learnings, and begin to move areas closer to delivery. The insights will feed across the wider CHN portfolio and inform how Nesta can support other areas with lighter-touch input in future.

We want local authorities across Great Britain to be able to plan for clean heat delivery confidently and independently. By testing our heat planning methodology with four diverse areas, we aim to produce a refined, replicable process that other councils can follow, ensuring the replicability across a range of contexts and reducing the time, resource and uncertainty involved in developing a clean heat plan for their area.

Decarbonising home heating is one of the UK's most complex net-zero challenges. Most homes still rely on gas boilers, and the transition to low-carbon alternatives like heat pumps requires significant coordination between local authorities, the supply chain, communities, and central government.

Local areas are best placed to lead this work: they are the experts. They understand their housing stock, their communities and their local economies. But many lack the tools and capacity to translate that knowledge into actionable plans. Without clear, locally grounded heat planning, delivery stalls.

Plymouth gave us the evidence and the experience to build something reusable. We now have a planning tool and a step-by-step methodology designed around what local authorities actually need. This project is about testing both in new contexts - four areas with different housing, geographies and policy environments - to sharpen the approach and make it available to councils across GB.

Our aim is that this local-led work will help to unlock a diversity of delivery models across low-carbon heating technologies, build local confidence and improve supply chains. We are also exploring the potential economies of scale and any cost savings that are possible to stakeholders  when working at scale.

We are working directly with local authority teams partners in Midlothian, Dudley, Vale of Glamorgan and Glasgow to support the development of our clean heat plans, methodology using Nesta's planning tool and playbook. This in turn aims to support these local authorities in the development of their own approaches to clean heat (with the Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies, LHEES, being the primary strategic driver in Scotland). Each partner will map their local housing stock, identify the most suitable low-carbon heating technologies for different parts of their area, develop a pipeline of opportunity areas and explore options that could unlock delivery.

The project runs across key phases. 

• Form a team and review the mapping and assignment of technology across an area.
• Identify key opportunities for delivery and refine them with stakeholders (eg, regional actors, supply chain, community organisations)
• Create a pipeline of opportunities and work to transition to delivery.

What makes this project distinctive is its dual purpose: it is both a collaboration to create local heat plans with four local areas, and a live test of whether Nesta's methodology can scale. Every insight feeds back into the tools and guidance available that we are aiming to make publicly available for all local authorities in GB in autumn.

Part of this work may involve working with three of the partners (Midlothian, Dudley, Vale of Glamorgan) to convene stakeholders who will be crucial in ensuring these plans are feasible and deliverable. We are interested in hearing from people working in the industry, specifically if you are:

• supplying or delivering heating solutions (eg, heat pumps, ground source heat pumps, communal heating systems)
• a local social housing provider in the three areas
• large property owners, developers and intensive heat/energy users
• a member of community organisations
• a local skills and training organisation

Our previous work in Plymouth showed the value in engaging the broadest possible mix of stakeholders early on. Specifically, to shape the plans and ensure that proposals have the widest impact across the local area.