Heat network zoning - indicative/initial zone maps

What it contains

Preliminary heat network zone boundaries produced by the national zoning model (building type, size and energy use), tested across 28 English pilot towns and cities. 20 indicative maps published Sept 2024.

When you need it

Useful at these project stages, from the working group's stage matrix:

Initial FeasibilityAssessSelectDefineOperate

Matched on

Description of adjacent buildings and projects; Constraints, regulation and consenting data (not a matrix item); Future energy needs

Assigned by

Matched to data items the matrix names

Coverage and detail

Geographic

England only

Nations

England

Resolution

Zone polygons at town/city scale

Formats

PDF maps and webinar recordings ONLY - no shapefile/GeoJSON release as of Sept 2026

Update cadence

Ad hoc; statutory zones await regulations under the Energy Act 2023

Access and machine route

Licence as stated

Open Government Licence v3.0 (for the PDF maps)

Assertion source

as published by DESNZ

Harvest note

no

Caveats

CRITICAL: still not a spatial dataset. Government Response to the 2023 zoning consultation published January 2026; Heat Network Zoning Pilot guidance Nov 2025. A catalogue must record this as 'announced, not yet machine-readable' and set a watch on the collection. STALE AS RECORDED: superseded by the January 2026 government response and the March 2026 draft Statutory Instrument. The pilot now covers 28 locations.

Classification

Category

Constraints, Regulation & Consenting

Assigned by

Not yet determined

Depth domain

Surface

Data form

Document, Vector

Evidence confidence

Not yet assessed. Only a person can set this.

How current this entry is

Last updated here

2026-09-22

Last checked against the holder

2026-09-07

Checked by a person

Not yet. Nobody has read this entry.

Catalogue id

heat-network-zoning-indicative-initial-zone-maps