Our Projects

Fast Followers Innovate UK with Three Rivers District Council

In April 2023, GUCE were part of TRDC’s winning bid for a Fast Followers grant through Innovate UK. The aim of the project is to identify the non technical barriers stopping the Council reaching their Net Zero targets and work on schemes to reduce them. This will enable the Council to cut carbon across the District and achieve their overall Net Zero goals.

GUCE is partnering with TRDC for two work streams as part of this project. The first is launching Transition Streets to the whole of Three Rivers District, engaging neighbours, streets, and communities to support each other via the Transition Streets programme to save money and reduce their carbon footprint. As part of this we’ve had a grant to buy a Thermal Imaging Camera and will be providing basic free thermal images for any TRDC residents taking part in the Transition Streets programme.

If you’re a TRDC resident and would like to get involved in or lead a Transition Streets programme near you then find out more here.

The second workstream is promoting community energy options for local community buildings in the District. We’ll be talking to schools, leisure centres, and other locally run buildings about how we can support them to switch to renewables for their energy supplies. The goal is to show them what’s possible and, using community energy solutions, provide energy bill security while reducing their organisation’s carbon footprint. See a video here about a recent webinar for more info

Transition Streets

Transition Streets is back on, as above. This award winning series of workshops kicked off in with neighbourhood groups in January 2023, with places for 10 streets in Kings Langley and 7 groups from nearby villages.

Transition Streets helps us connect with our neighbours, support each other to reduce our living costs, and cut our carbon footprint whilst taking practical actions together as a community. It's a judgement free zone, where you can ask any questions and share your tips and knowledge.

For more information on the programme, please see our leaflet or the workbook. More information on the history of Transition Streets, how it began and stories from those involved please visit : Transition Streets - Transition Town Totnes

Heating Kings Langley

Thanks to a Rural Community Energy Fund grant we have been able to complete a feasibility study to look into heating residential homes from the aquifer below the Ovaltine factory. The project kicked off mid October with our partners at Bioregional, Icax, and Fairheat and the results were fed back into a community presentation in early Spring.

For more details on the project please visit: Heating Kings Langley

For a recent report on the project and a visit to an active similar project in Swaffam Prior: Case Study at Swaffam Prior

This is an exciting and unique opportunity for Kings Langley and GUCE to look at options to decarbonise local homes and leverage natural resources to provide energy security for our community.

Transitioning Hertfordshire
Towards Sustainability

The Grand Union Transition and Sustainability Initiative (GUTSI) was formed in January 2021 by a group of transition-minded individuals, (including two GUCE directors), with a view to pooling the expertise within the community on sustainability and providing support to local authorities as they plan the climate transition. GUTSI is a project of GUCE.

The local government's Hertfordshire Climate Change and Sustainability Partnership indicated they were interested in the local community acting as a critical friend as they developed their action plans relating to water, biodiversity, transport, and climate change.

To date, GUTSI associates provided comments to the HCCSP on their draft Water plan in 2021.

GUTSI also won a Transition Bounce grant which enabled GUTSI to deliver a climate change communications workshop to 45 officers from councils throughout Hertfordshire, in partnership with Climate Outreach, in 2022.