You may already know a network costs too much to run, loses heat or generates complaints. Spending capital on the assumed cause is expensive when the assumption turns out to be wrong. This is the stage between knowing something is wrong and deciding what to do about it. It has three parts: establish what the network is actually doing, find out why, then decide what to fix and in what order. Establish the baseline A performance snapshot brings together the information you already have and adds targeted measurement where it is needed. Bills, schematics, plant information, meter records, building management system data and maintenance history can all contribute. Nothing needs to be complete, because working out what exists, what can be trusted and what is missing is part of the assessment. Where the existing information cannot answer the question, appropriately qualified partners can assess the network and establish what is installed, what is measurable and what additional measurement would help. Their findings come back into Spinview rather than disappearing into another report in another folder. Access is typically needed to plant rooms and the energy centre, meter locations and metering panels, control panels and the building management system, riser cupboards and distribution routes where accessible, and substations or heat interface units where relevant. The engineer confirms what is required before the visit. Where a network is suitable, non-invasive temporary sensors collect targeted flow and temperature data without opening the pipework. Equipment and access depend on the network and the measurements needed, and suitability is established on site. Monitoring runs long enough to capture representative operating conditions rather than a single day. What you get back is a performance baseline held in Spinview, what the data shows about how the network is operating, where information is still missing, which parts of the system warrant attention and a recommendation on what to do next. Engineering conclusions are made by appropriately qualified specialists based on the evidence available. Get in touch Find the cause Performance data tells you the network is underperforming. A mechanical assessment establishes why. Specialist assessment is carried out by appropriately qualified engineering partners, with the findings brought back into Spinview. Scope is set around the individual network and the question being investigated, and can cover the heat source and generation plant, distribution pipework and insulation, controls and control strategy, pumps and flow rates, operating temperatures, heat interface units, metering, substations and asset condition. The output gives you the findings, the priority issues ranked, what can be addressed immediately, what needs further investigation and what the significant items are likely to involve. That is a clear basis for deciding what needs investment and what should happen first. Spinview provides the record, the workflow and the evidence layer. The engineering judgement comes from the specialist. Get in touch Decide what to fix and what to spend Once you know what is wrong, the decision is which interventions to make, in what order, and whether the return justifies the investment. The difference in cost between the right intervention and the assumed one can be substantial. Roughly in order of cost, the options run from operating differently through control strategy, setpoints and scheduling, to balancing and adjustment where commissioning never quite finished, to repair and insulation, to replacing components such as heat interface units, metering, pumps and controls, and finally to replacing plant or a wider retrofit programme. The right answer depends on the network and the evidence, and frequently combines several. Rank by what the evidence shows, what each intervention costs, what it is expected to return and what the regulatory position requires. Some work pays back on operating cost alone. Some is needed to reach a technical requirement regardless of return. Separating those two is what makes a capital case defensible. See the investment decision across your estate A large owner does not only ask what to fix. They ask which networks to spend money on first. One network may have optimisation identified and be high priority. Another may need metering before anything else can be established. A third may have a capital intervention identified and belong in capital planning. A fourth may be performing within its expected range and simply need monitoring. Spinview brings together the performance data, the technical findings, the cost assumptions, the regulatory drivers and the actions already completed, so the ranking holds up when it reaches a capital planning process. Model the return on an improvement Could funding help?
Heat network regulation and technical standards continue to develop. We review our guidance against information published by Ofgem and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and show the latest review date on regulatory and technical pages.
This website provides general information and practical tools. Requirements depend on the circumstances of each heat network, and this site is general information rather than legal, regulatory, financial or engineering advice. Where specialist advice is required it should be provided by an appropriately qualified adviser.
Spinview helps organisations collect, organise, review and maintain heat network information and evidence. RAG status shows information readiness within Spinview and is not a regulatory compliance determination. Regulatory responsibility, and the compliance determination itself, remains with the relevant operator or supplier.
Regulatory and technical sources last reviewed: 16 August 2026.