Heat From Mines in the West of England

With circa 100,000 homes above or near to former mines in the West of England, the potential for heating and cooling from mines needs investigation. £1.66m of Green Recovery Fund (part of the Mayoral Combined Authority Investment Fund) was agreed at Committee in March 2023. Heat From Mines is an investigatory project funded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) in partnership with South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) to scope out potential for an operational scheme(s) in the region, using former mines to deliver heating, and/or cooling.

We are looking for providers to conduct up to five concurrent, detailed desktop studies from February to June 2025 to assess potential for heat and coolth. These will be in the MCA area covering SGC, Bristol City Council and Bath & Northeast Somerset Council. The specific locations that the detailed desktop studies need to focus on will be determined by the project working group in January 2025 and specified in the full procurement phase which will start in mid/late January 2025.

Scope of Study:

The detailed desktop studies, also referred to as 'Phase 2 Studies', will build upon knowledge and reports from previous studies that looked at high level opportunity mapping. Output reports will need to provide us with a detailed understanding of coal mining and abandonment plans inc; mines studied, water quality, structural and environmental constraints, an overview of the permitting and licensing requirements, potential drilling targets for abstraction and reinjection boreholes, associated risks and costs to help us determine whether and where potential follow-on drill testing stages can take place. The studies must consider both heating and cooling potential and identify any potential for inter-seasonal storage. We also require an evaluation of the economic and social impacts that further exploration and a full scheme would create. The outputs of these studies - reports, maps and associated monitoring - will de-risk and allow prioritisation of detailed ground investigations. This study would only assess the subsurface element.

We would like to invite potential suppliers to register their interest and complete our survey which is designed to help inform the eventual tender.

If you are interested in this opportunity or would like further details on this project, please visit and complete the short survey form at:

https://forms.office.com/e/pHwmvr0PUp