A Northern Powerhouse: how large-scale investments could help Sheffield go green

Big things are happening in Sheffield. Sheffield Forgemasters has announced plans for a new machining facility – part of a £400 million investment in the Meadowhall district – and there’s also E.ON's plans to expand our low carbon heat network in the Lower Don Valley.

It’s not too ambitious to picture a future where Sheffield, the historic city of steel, becomes a model of sustainability – bringing with it environmental benefits, new jobs and skills, cleaner air, economic growth and advanced green technology.

In reality this vision is within reach. These big plans – and big investments – for the city show there is real potential to help make Sheffield a greener, cleaner place for the next generation – and position the city as a leader in green urban development.

Made in Sheffield

Our Don Valley heat network already runs for 8km into the Don Valley, fed from our Blackburn Meadows combined heat and power plant which uses 200,000 tonnes of waste wood, sourced within the UK, that would have otherwise gone to landfill.

That network already provides low carbon heat to businesses including Forgemasters, Ice Sheffield and Sheffield Arena, and, having unveiled our plans to explore opportunities to more than double our network by a further 10km, there is huge potential for new businesses and homes to eventually connect to this new network and potentially tapping into new sources of low carbon heating. 

We are the playmakers in creating a more sustainable UK through projects like this, and with Sheffield’s bold steps to become a zero-carbon city by 2030 we’re looking to expand the route of our district heat network to play a role in that ambition.

As part of our ongoing investment in the city we’ll be looking to create more than 2,000 green jobs in the region as well as improving public spaces – leaving every space we touch better than when we found it.