North London Heat and Power Project goes digital during the COVID-19 crisis

This week North London Waste Authority (NLWA) achieved two major successes in delivering the programme for the North London Heat and Power Project (NLHPP) by hosting a virtual market engagement event and releasing a computer-generated video to see the future site layout.

Councillor Clyde Loakes, Chair of NLWA says, “Despite the many challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, I am proud that we are finding solutions to continue to deliver the North London Heat and Power Project – our major plan to deliver the sustainable waste infrastructure of the future, right here in north London.”

NLWA successfully harnessed digital solutions in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, to ensure that key procurement activity continues to proceed on this nationally significant infrastructure project. The NLHPP project team stayed home and stayed safe by hosting their first entirely virtual market engagement event for contractors via webinar. Contractors interested in bidding for works on the £600m world-class Energy Recovery Facility where invited to find out more about the project and contract by watching an online presentation. (Link here to watch the webinar video).

David Cullen, NLHPP Programme Director said “I’m delighted that the virtual webinar was a huge success with over 200 interested contractors registering to watch the presentation. This ERF is part of north London’s sustainable waste strategy and it is essential we continue the procurement without delay to deliver the project. We’ve had great feedback from potential contractors on the webinar and I very much look forward to further engagement at the start of summer 2020 before the ERF tender is launched’.

The virtual market engagement event also saw the launch of the first ever fully rendered flythrough video of the NLHPP which is now available for the public to view. The high-quality video produced by Architects Grimshaw illustrates the layout of the NLHPP, as well as the waste and recycling facilities that are being delivered for north London. The flythrough video will play an instrumental role in future engagement with the market and local communities. (Link here to watch the video).

Annabel Koeck associate at Grimshaw said: “Grimshaw is proud to be part of the NLHPP which will deliver essential waste and recycling services for north London. The fly-through video highlights the importance of the project and gives an overview of how the scheme will look and work, as well as the social and environmental benefits it will bring to the local community and wider region.”

The NLHPP is a nationally significant project involving the replacement of the existing energy from waste plant that has served north London for almost 50 years. Building the NLHPP is a major part of the solution to tackle the Climate Emergency and is the only proven, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to treat the volume of non-recyclable waste required in north London.

As seen in the new flythrough video, the NLHPP will deliver:

• An Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) to generate low-carbon energy from non-recyclable waste in the form of heat and power, displacing the need to use virgin fossil fuels. Procurement for the ERF will be launched in summer 2020.
• A Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) with an area to process bulky waste and a Reuse and Recycling Centre allowing for the first time ever the public to bring their waste for recycling. The RRF tender was launched in October 2019 and the contract will be awarded later in 2020.
• A new community hub known as EcoPark House to be used by local residents as a visitor and education centre, as well as a home for the Edmonton Sea Cadets. The EcoPark South tender was launched with the RRF in October 2019 and the contract will be awarded later in 2020.