As of today, the cooling network in London’s King’s Cross district is fully operational.The network is designed to serve the area north of the Regent Canal and will cool four commercial buildings and three residential buildings with a low carbon footprint. The system has also been designed to serve other specific buildings in due course.
This new urban cooling network was designed in accordance with the trilogy concept of “the pooling of heat, energy and cooling networks”. This concept significantly reduces the carbon emissions of the network, in order to ensure the sustainability of the project.
This new cooling network will work alongside the Metropolitan district heating network, which has already supplied heat and power to King’s Cross since 2013 while the new district cooling network occupies a narrow strip of land next to the Channel Tunnel rail link.
The location of the facility, the technologies used and the innovative design of the system represented a number of important design, engineering and construction challenges. However, according to the project leader John Marsh, the network will deliver real benefits for both the King’s Cross area and the network’s customers.
It should be noted that this facility represents only a small part of the infrastructure that will be provided by the Metropolitan district. The infrastructure currently being put in place also includes the development of district heating, electricity, ultrafast fiber optic networks, power grids, gas networks, sewage collection systems and water at King’s Cross.