Enviroenergy LtdLondon Road Heat Station, 12 London Road, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

EnviroEnergy are one of the UK’s longest established district heating companies, set up in 1962 to turn Nottingham’s waste into energy and distribute it to the city.

The London Road Heat Station was built in 1953 by the Boots company for use as an industrial power station. It was originally housed three Babcock & Wilcox cross tube marine tube boilers fed by coal from three overhead concrete storage bunkers. Each of the bunkers could hold 250 tons of coal, delivered by bulk tipper from the former Gedling Colliery.

2.6 MW of power was generated from two English Electric turbo generators. These are still in use today as backup generators and provide additional power generation during peak demand. The plant was in use until the early 1970s when the site was purchased by Nottingham Corporation and leased to British Coal.

In 1968 the Nottingham Corporation chose incineration as their future method of refuse disposal following a feasibility study by Associated Heat Services. The report showed that waste heat from refuse could be used economically to heat proposed new residential and commercial redevelopments in Nottingham. The National Coal Board (NCB) were also seeking markets for coal-fired district heating at the time.

The corporation set up the incineration and district heating scheme as a joint venture with NCB. The scheme then had two sources of heat: the new Eastcroft Incineration plant; and the London Road Station. The new scheme of linking an energy-from-waste incinerator with district heating was the biggest of its kind in the UK costing, £5 million.