A new collaboration between the Faculties of Social Sciences and Engineering will consult with Sheffield clergy, businesses and communities to explore the feasibility of local churches operating networks to heat nearby buildings.
The CHALICE (Churches as Local Infrastructure for Community Energy Systems) project builds on the findings of Future Faith, a previous project which found that Sheffield parishes already function as community innovation hubs.
The new project, led by Dr Krzysztof Nawratek from the School of Architecture and Landscape, examines whether a parish church can act as the ‘anchor’ for a small, low-temperature heat network, supplying heat to a cluster of surrounding businesses, community organisations or homes. This is set against a backdrop of rising fuel poverty, which is an important motivation behind the research.
The technical arm of the project, run by Dr Robert Barthorpe and Dr Sajan Preet in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, will involve heat-demand modelling and thermal surveying, as well as exploring other network options to make the proposed systems run effectively.
Research in the School of Architecture and Landscape, supported by Dr Faith Ng'eno and Mr Charlie Young, will be focused on qualitatively examining the governance, ownership, heritage and trust conditions under which such a scheme could work. This team will map institutional, parish and local stakeholders and attempt to understand their perceptions of the opportunities and risks the scheme could pose. This includes understanding how local communities and building owners view Church-led civic infrastructure, given that the Church’s motivations are religious. This research will involve interviews, document analysis, site observations and design workshops.
Dr Nawratek, Senior Lecturer in Humanities and Architecture, said: “This project is a part of a long term and ongoing research collaboration with the Sheffield Diocese, acknowledged as a cover story in the Diocese Network magazine in winter 2025. The project puts architecture as a mediating field between engineering and pastoral theology and aims to address both practical questions related to sustainability and poverty and a broader question about the role of the national Church in dynamically changing, religiously diverse urban context.”
Dr Robert Barthorpe, Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, said: "We're excited to be working with colleagues from the School of Architecture and Landscape to explore the feasibility of using churches as hubs for delivering heat to local communities. The technical work package will enable us to apply knowledge of low-temperature heat network and thermal storage solutions built up within recent projects (including SYSC and ADSorB) to a truly innovative application. We view adoption of a cross-disciplinary approach as being key to thoroughly assessing the feasibility of the method, and we're really looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the project."
The four-month study is delivered in partnership with the Sheffield Diocesan Board of Finance and funded by the South Yorkshire Innovation Programme (with a Diocese match contribution).