Discover how your whole community can benefit from a district heating scheme, with Swaffham Prior Heat Network. Free online workshop!
Join a free interactive online workshop with those behind the UK’s first rural district heating network. Learn how to keep your community warm and protected from fossil fuel price fluctuations, with Swaffham Prior Heat Network.
Tuesday, October 13 • 7 PM – 8:30 PM GMT
In this Community-to-Community Workshop hosted by Carbon Copy, Ros Hathorn and Nicola Young, of Cambridgeshire County Council will share their insights on the successes and challenges of implementing this groundbreaking renewable heat network project. Hosted by Carbon Copy and facilitated by Roy Kareem, the session will include a combination of guest interview, interactive breakouts, audience Q&A and opportunities for reflection and goal-setting.
In March 2026, Carbon Copy published new research into the shared characteristics and success factors of high-impact local climate action projects. To date, over 500 people from more than 450 different organisations have downloaded the resulting report, titled High-Impact Local Climate Action Guide: From Footprint to Changeprint.
Now, in response to feedback from our community, and with the generous support of the National Lottery Community Fund, Carbon Copy is launching a series of four Community-to-Community Workshops, building on the insights from this new research and giving participants the opportunity to learn directly from successful local climate and nature projects.
This online workshop is suitable for anyone involved with a business, community organisation or energy co-op, council or other group that is looking to collaborate locally and implement a renewable district heat network project.
About Carbon Copy
Carbon Copy is a UK charity helping to turn individual concern about our climate into collective impact. We believe the fastest way to create change is to share it. We tap into a powerful truth: copying is human nature. When action is visible and easy to replicate, it spreads.
Carbon Copy offers a place to join in: a national collection of climate action stories from across the UK; place-by-place climate and nature plans; a popular podcast and blog about collective action; and capacity building for organisations across public, private and third sectors.
In collaboration with our partners, Carbon Copy’s aim is to engage one million more people locally in UK climate action by 2030.
About Swaffham Prior Heat Network
Swaffham Prior was the first UK village to have its own heat network, delivering reliable renewable heat from January 2023. The project was started by Swaffham Prior Community Land Trust, to address fuel poverty and local environmental issues caused by the village’s reliance on oil heating.
Alongside grant funding, Cambridgeshire County Council have made a strategic investment in the project and own the energy centre and heat network assets. The heat network operates using a combination of three renewable technologies:
- Air-source heat pump
- Ground-source heat pumps
- Four electric boilers
The energy centre is also connected to the council’s North Angle Solar Farm near Soham, which provides renewable energy to support the energy centre. There are now 112 properties connected to the heat network, benefiting from clean, green energy.
