Siemens heat pump will tap Thames water
11th March 2025
UK: Siemens is to provide a water-source heat pump to power the University of East London’s Docklands Campus library and Royal Docks Centre for Sustainability Buildings.
The new WSHP, which will replace existing gas boilers, is set to be the largest fitted at any university.
Submerged in the River Thames, the closed-loop system will use a series of pipes to extract heat from the water in the Royal Albert Docks, providing a cost-effective heating system which will reduce annual CO2 emissions by 258 tonnes without removing vast quantities of water from the river.
The system is scalable to allow the university to extend in the future similar heat pump systems across the campus and the wider Royal Docks – the only Enterprise Zone in London – and is part of the long-term partnership with Siemens, which is supporting the university’s transition to net zero by 2030.
The strategic partnership, which was formed in 2022, has already seen Siemens deploy a variety of decarbonisation technologies including solar PV, BMS and EV charging infrastructure across the university campus. In addition, Siemens is using its Building X technologies and data analytics to allow UEL to better understand its energy consumption and drive research and enterprise programmes.
The University of East London claims to have reduced its CO₂ emissions and carbon-producing energy consumption more than any other modern London university already, and by 2026 will achieve the lowest emissions per student in the UK – putting it on track to achieve its 2030 net zero targets.
As well as saving the university over £500,000 per year in utility costs and reducing emissions by over 1,000 tonnes annually, the partnership has driven a range of successful green employability, enterprise and research initiatives including student internships, MSc sponsorships, hackathons, and the creation of a ‘Living Lab’ for training and research on sustainability.
