The more observant might have noticed that box appearing next to casino. Our mysterious erection correspondent Angus Young reports.
The steel frame is taking shape on a new-build project on the edge of the city centre. Sandwiched between Napoleon’s Casino and Hull College’s Energy and Climate Centre building, the development on what used to be a car park is set to become a very distinctive addition to the Hull skyline. It will also be the beating heart of a new multi-million pound district heating system.
When complete, a new energy centre at the site will supply heat to buildings across the city centre via a series of underground pipes which are also currently being installed in several locations. The idea is to connect public buildings like the Guildhall, the Hull College campus, the Central Library, the New Theatre and a couple of health centres to a single low-carbon heating network.
Overall, 38 venues and the yet-to-be built Albion Square and East Bank Village development sites will be connected. There will also be capacity to extend the network if demand develops from the private sector. As such, it avoids the complications of replacing ageing gas-fired boilers and electric heating systems in different buildings when they come to the end of their working lives.
An alternative option of installing new air source heat pumps on individual buildings was discounted on both cost and practical grounds. Just imagine the outcry if, after spending all that money on refurbishing a beautiful Grade II listed Maritime Museum, the council plonked a couple of air source heat pumps on it. Indeed, the prospect of a grid overload with the addition of hundreds of heat pumps across the city persuaded council officials to opt for a single system solution instead.
The new energy centre will be equipped with air and water source heat pumps together with gas boilers to be used in the event of any breakdown or during high periods of demand. The network will be managed by a new company being set up by the city council which secured just over £46m in external funding to cover the cost of the first phase of the work. The company’s intention is to provide cheap heat while delivering a profit and a potential dividend in the long-term.
Ironically, the new energy centre is just a five-minute walk from Machell Street where the country’s first public hydraulic power network operated by Hull’s first public utility was launched back in 1876. Still standing today but now used as a vehicle repair business, a purpose-built power station built by the Hull Hydraulic Power Company on behalf of Hull Corporation took water from the River Hull and fed it through a pressurised system into a network of pipes to serve businesses in Hull’s Old Town as well some docks, supplying the power to operate various lock gates. A rooftop water tank – also still in place today – was used to separate mud and silt from the river.
Exactly 150 years later, history is repeating itself. The future was never going to feature monorails, robots or going to Mars, it was always destined to be all about plumbing.