Renfrewshire Council

Colleagues in our City Deal and Infrastructure team were thrilled to take home the prestigious Scottish Government—Delivering Excellence Award from the COSLA Excellence Awards ceremony at the Crieff Hydro Hotel on Thursday 19th September, presented by Cabinet Secretary Shona Robison.

The COSLA Excellence Awards are a key event in the local government calendar, and celebrate the teams, projects, and services that exemplify best practice and innovative, sustainable service delivery.

All 15 finalists were in the running for The Scottish Government—Delivering Excellence Award, which is given in recognition of projects that have demonstrated exceptional achievements, often unrelated to the specific criteria of the main award categories.

Having been shortlisted from over 200 applications received this year, our team came out on top, winning this accolade for their delivery of our District Heating Network—a renewable energy network that delivers green power to the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS). The project meets a string of Scottish Government objectives including sustainability and economic development.

Barbara Walker, City Deal and Infrastructure Programme Directorsaid:

"I am delighted our team have achieved this well-deserved recognition from the Scottish Government. It was a very complex and innovative project, and the team worked relentlessly, navigating their way through numerous challenges to deliver on this bespoke venture. I'd like to thank everyone who worked hard on this project for their collaboration, focus and commitment, without which we could not have reached such a successful outcome".

President of COSLA and Chair of the 2024 Excellence Awards, Councillor Shona Morrison, commented:

"I'd like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to our winners! The Excellence Awards serve as an important reminder that councils are here for our communities every day, supporting us in all aspects of our lives...This year's entries and winners highlighted how important it is that we work collaboratively...to deliver for our communities".

About Renfrewshire's District Heating Network (DHN)

Our District Heating Network (DHN), a fifth-generation renewable energy network, is the first of its kind in Scotland.

It provides heating and hot water to businesses based at the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) site by taking treated water headed for the White Cart River and redirecting it to a new energy centre in Paisley. There, low temperature heat between five and 18 degrees is extracted through a heat plate exchanger and distributed around a 3.7km loop of underground pipes. This generates energy, for all current and future developments within AMIDS, that is 90% greener than a gas boiler.

For more information on our DHN, visit www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/district-heating-network.

Published Tuesday 01 October 2024