What we know.
Detailed information has so far been withheld by Berkeley Homes. What we do have so far is the following:
- Air Source Heat Pumps consultation site. The display boards from the two consultation sessions have been uploaded there, but in case they go missing, we have a handy copy of them for you here for you.
- Armourer's Court consultation site
- 20/0362/EIA 2020 Scoping opinion sought regarding the environmental impact assessment for Armourer's Court. This includes a report that argues that states the installation has to be in the park for financial reasons. The documents as they were on 21/5/2025 can be downloaded here.
- 21/4329/F Lapsed 2021/2022 plan for Armourer's Court, that does not seem to include this requirement to take the park - we're still wrestling with the pile of documents here. It is expected that this plan will be updated and resubmitted to Council in June 2025. You can download a copy of the plans as they stood 21/5/2025 here.
- It turns out that plans for The Ropeyard (on the previous Maribor Park site) are also relevant, as they are framed on the assumption that the ASHP installation in Wellington Park will happen. The relevant planning documents are 24/0848/R, which we've saved here, along with the reserved matters to be considered by Royal Borough of Greenwich Planning Board on 27th May 2025. We have a copy of those documents here as well.
One thing that we are missing here is a timeline of key events that have led up to this proposal, which seems to have only come to light very late in the process. We know there were various plans submitted over some time for the development of Armourer's Court, construction of the Building 10 energy center, and other related infrastructure. What we're still wrestling with is the time line of plans, proposals, decisions and so forth that led to where we are now.
How does The Ropeyard figure in this?
The short answer is that The Ropeyard plan specifies that all it's heating will come from the ASHP installation in Wellington Park.
The long answer is that the planning documents for The Ropeyard to be considered by Royal Borough of Greenwich Planning Board on 27th May 2025 indicates that The Ropeyard is 100% reliant on the proposed ASHP solution for heating, and that council has "accepted" the proposal to build the ASHP installation in Wellington Park, before Berkeley Homes have performed any community consultation or submitted plans.
Plan 13/0117/O (2013) is the initial proposal for what became The Ropeyards, which is roughly Block D and Block K on that proposal. This plan does not make any mention of using Wellington Park for ASHP, although it does mention ASHP as one of the potential sources of heat. The plan does however indicate that heat would be provided either from the existing energy centre, or an additional energy centre in Block K
A copy of 13/0117/O (2013) can be downloaded here.
Sustainability-Statement-188885.pdf, page 31 states:
- "The proposed development will benefit from the specification of a gas CHP engine."
Planning_Statement_Pages+1-86-188920.pdf:
- 5.73 In respect of the latter, Phases 1 and 2 of the 2008 masterplan already utilise the heat distribution network powered from a central Energy Centre on-site and this should ultimately serve Phases 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
- 5.74 However, until Phases 3, 4 and 5 are completed and occupied, it is unclear whether the existing Energy Centre could be utilised to help power the Waterfront masterplan. Therefore, the masterplan proposals include a potential second Energy Centre to be located in Block K2 fronting Beresford Street. Although, the final solution will need to be established once the earlier phases of development are finally connected to the existing Energy Centre and the detailed design of the Waterfront masterplan is brought forward.
Energy_Statement-188886.pdf:
- Section 8 suggests two options for the CHP energy centres. The first is to expand the existing energy centre on Arsenal Way, the other was to build a new energy centre in the basement of the new Block K
Plan 16/3025/MA (2016) made alterations to the previous plan, but does not propose any changes to the heating arrangements in that plan. (download here)
Plan 24/0848/R (2024) is the final plan for The Ropeyards. This substantially changes the proposed heating solution, indicating that 100% of heating will be sourced from ASHP to be installed in Wellington Park. RBG indicated acceptance - or at least do not object - to this solution, despite it not being a submitted plan.
Appendix 2 – Conditions and Informatives to the Ropeyard Royal Arsenal Riverside Plots D & K, Condition 9, "Energy and CO2" directs that the development "shall implement and maintain, and in the case of energy generation equipment confirm as operational, the approved measures ... as detailed in the approved Energy statement prepared by Hodkinson in March 2024 (v1) or any later Stage version, including ... energy generation through connection to the Royal Arsenal Riverside heat network."
24/0848/R, page 33 states "The Council do not object to the proposed energy strategy produced by Hodkinson in March 2024 (v1). The Ropeyard will connect to the existing Royal Arsenal Riverside heat network. Currently the network is served by CHP and Gas boilers, but there is a longitudinal decarbonisation strategy in place which will see the gas systems replaced with ASHP."
24/0848/R, page 102, paragraph 22.7 "The application is supported by an Energy Strategy produced by Hodkinson in March 2024 (v1). As set out above, the Council’s sustainability consultant has advised that the proposal is acceptable."
24/0848/R page 102, paragraph 22.7 "The proposed development will connect to the existing Royal Arsenal Riverside heat network hydraulically through heat exchangers. Currently the network is served by CHP and Gas boilers, but there is a longitudinal decarbonisation strategy in place which will see the gas systems replaced with ASHP.". Please note that consultation materials from Berkeley Homes concerning installation of ASHP in Wellington Park indicate that this proposal will not result in decomissioning of any existing CHP and Gas boilers.
The Energy Strategy produced by Hodkinson in March 2024 states:
- paragraph 6.10 "As outlined above, it is currently expected that across a given year 100% of the heat delivered to The Ropeyards will be from ASHPs."
- paragraph 6.15 "It is planned to house the ASHPs in Wellington Park, at the East side of the wider development."
The Design and Access Statement states:
- section 5.13 describes "Connecting to a new Air Source Heat Pump"
- section 5.14 implies that heat for Ropeyards will be provided from the existing CHP led heat network from the existing Energy Center located on Arsenal Way.
- Does not indicate any reliance on the plan to install the ASHPs in Wellington Park, which contradicts the Energy Strategy.
In summary, the Ropeyards plan:
- Is dependent on approval of the proposal to install ASHP on Wellington Park;
- Council has stated acceptance of that plan via acceptance of the Energy Strategy produced by Hodkinson in March 2024;
- That acceptance happened before Berkeley Homes performed community consultation on the ASHP development or submitted any plans to the Planning Board;
- That acceptance may have no legal basis.
We believe that the Planning Board cannot reasonably approve an application that relies on a speculative plan to house the heat pumps in a location for which a planning application has not been submitted let alone approved. If The Ropeyards development is to receive 100% of its required heating supply from new low emission infrastructure rather than the existing supply, then that infrastructure should be planned for within the site of the development.
Some answers...
The consultation session on 19th May 2025 provided some additional answers, although other questions remain open (see below)
Some of the answers:
- The Armourer's Court consultation did not include this proposal, so anyone who attended or responded to the consultation was not made aware of this.
- The project manager confirmed that the additional capacity to the heating network from this facility is only needed because they intend to build Armourer's Court
- No existing gas powered heating will be decomissioned, meaning there will be no net reduction in carbon emissions.
- It is expected that existing leaseholders will cover the cost of maintaining any landscaping in and around the installation.
- Berkeley Homes intend to issue new leases to remove the gagging clause that attempts to prevent leaseholders from objecting to developments. (see )
- The current planning and management team were not aware of the 2023 SSE press release announcing this scheme.
- It does not appeart that Historic England have been or will be consulted, despite the proposal to be building very close to the existing Grade II Heritage Listed building.
- Building into the park appears to go against the 2017 Greenwich Council Green Parks and Open Spaces Strategy.
- The 21/4329/F plan from late 2021 will be re-opened, extended and resubmitted, probably in early June.
- Energy bills for leaseholders and residents in the SSE energy area may or may not increase, it's unlikely to be known until the scheme is operational.
- Building and disruption near Wellington Park, Building 22, Foundry House and all along Arsenal Way is expected to last 18 months.
- It is not expected that this installation will result in more reliable heating for buildings currently serviced by SSE.
Open Questions
Information provided by Berkeley Homes so far raises more questions than it provides answers. So far we have collated these open questions:
- Why is this consultation and planning separate to the Armourer’s Court consultation and planning?
- On what basis does it decarbonise the network, if existing gas services are not being shut down?
- Why are ground source heat pumps and solar not being considered when that is what is being done at Lombard Square?
- Why did SSE unilaterally announce this installation as something that was happening without any appeal, and without any community consultation or engagement, in April 2023? (Note that SSE have pulled this off the Internet but the archive.org is our friend, and we have a preserved copy you can download).
- Why was the energy center built as small as possible in order to maximise lettable space (which remains unlet) at the expense of being able to be extended?
- If the basis for not using Armourer's Court for this is that room has to be left for commercial spaces, is there any recognition that the commercial spaces made in nearby Building 10 have been un-let since construction?
- What happened to the Mayor of London funded Switch2 project, and how does it relate to this project?
- As far back as December 2021, Berkely Homes have been siting on a report submitted as part of the first round of planning for Armourer's Court, submitted as part of 21/4329/F which identifies Wellington park as the cheapest option. It also calls out Building 10 roof and Armourer's Court roof as viable alternatives. If this has been planned for so long why has Berkeley Homes waited until the last minute to mount a consultation?
