Specification & project brief

Clear Employer’s Requirements documents reduce risk, guide delivery, and ensure networks and low carbon installations operate reliably, efficiently, and meet client expectations.

We develop detailed Employer’s Requirements documents that define all aspects of the works for a project. These documents can cover the construction of a new district heating network or low carbon plant, retrofit upgrades to existing buildings, or the provision of operation and maintenance services for low carbon plant.

They include comprehensive equipment specifications, designs, and key performance indicators for both construction and O&M phases. We are completely independent of al equipment suppliers and installation contractors, and so always specify the optimum solution for the client, balancing carbon savings and value for money.

We develop independent design guides to set out best-practice standards and ensure consistency across low carbon energy and heat network projects.

For low-carbon heat networks, these guides follow guidance such as CP1 and TS1, helping clients apply robust standards for design, operation, and maintenance.

We also produce guides for individual buildings, such as new-build or retrofit ASHP installations, which clients, particularly local authorities, can use to ensure their contractors follow agreed best practice for the design and integration of low carbon plan. 

We develop clear technical guidance for developers connecting to heat networks, whether immediately upon completion of the development, or when the network later reaches the site.

Our specifications cover all critical considerations, including plant room location (ideally on the ground floor or basement for easy network connections), space for thermal substations, and suitability of distribution pipework and heat emitters for heat supply from a low-temperature network.

We advise on regulatory compliance, including heat meter installation for residential units, safeguarding network routes from site boundaries, and best practice design of space heating and hot water systems. Our guidance ensures that the building heating efficiency and occupant comfort levels are optimised, and the building integrates seamlessly with the wider network.

As an alternative to detailed technical design, we regularly develop performance specifications that define the key outcomes a completed low carbon energy installation must meet, which can be used to appoint a ‘design and build’ contractor.

Our performance specifications can include a range of requirements, depending on the specific priorities of the client. As a minimum, performance specifications normally include limits for the minimum installed low carbon heat generation capacity, percentage of heat supply that comes from low carbon sources and/or limits for carbon intensity of heat delivered. 

Operating requirements typically include limits on heating downtime, specified operating temperatures and conditions and minimum efficiency targets such as seasonal coefficients of performance as well as regulatory compliance and data collection. Once the installation is complete and operational, we carry out acceptance testing to confirm all targets are met before handover.