Homes and commercial properties across Scotland will benefit from the establishment of a new £300 million fund supporting the development and roll-out of zero-emission heat networks.

The fund will support projects where the heat for individual properties is supplied from a communal source.

Common in other European countries, there are fewer examples currently in Scotland but those in place typically link up homes, schools, workplaces and other buildings.

The new fund takes over from the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme and is part of the overall £1.8 billion committed over the course of this Parliament to decarbonise how we heat our buildings.

The development funding will be targeted at small and medium-sized registered social landlords (RSLs) who have indicated they require additional support to plan and deliver the roll-out of zero-emissions heating within their housing stock.  At the same time, the Fabric First funding pot for home energy improvements has been extended for another two years.

Scotland’s Heat Network Fund is open to all public and private sector applicants. Proposals can be submitted to the fund at any time. This fund will remain open to proposals with quarterly reports to be provided with committed spending against the allocated budget.

Projects seeking support through Scotland’s Heat Network Fund should complete the expression of interest form and provide this to HeatNetworkFund@gov.scot. The project lead will then be contacted within 10 working days by a member of the Heat Investment team to have a preliminary discussion.

The Social Housing Net-Zero Heat Development fund will be open to applications from 21 February 2022 to 30 May 2022. All development work should be fully completed by 31st October 2022 with possible extension depending on the scale of the work undertaken.

Applications for “Fabric First” funding can be submitted from 21st February 2022 and all works must be completed by 30th March 2024. Full details can be found on the Social Housing Net-Zero Heat Fund website