NESST - Northumbria University

Newcastle

2026

NESST stands for North East Space Skills and Technology. It is part of Northumbria University with investment from the UK Space Agency. The new £50 million facility due to open in late 2026, will house world-leading space experts and unite industry with academia, to transform the UK space economy. It is a new building dedicated to Space, funded by the education sector alongside the UK space agency and Lockheed Martin satellite division.

Based on the Newcastle on Tyne campus, the BSH plant acts as the main electrical distribution hub and thermal water distributor for the building. Rooftop mounted it holds 2 tonnes of hot and chilled water provided by the air source heat pumps. This water in turn is distributed throughout the building enabling heating and chilling without the use of ozone endangering air conditioning gases.

Implementation
The energy centre was ordered by Castle Building Systems, the main mechanical contractors for the project. We enlisted the assistance of Beggs and Partners Ltd to provide the larger commercial equipment. It was manufactured at our factory in Antrim and transported to site before a building crane lifted it into location. The room was classed a wide load and had to have a police escort from the Cairnryan terminal with all other road users having to pull aside to pass on normal roads. With 4 tonnes of water storage, Grundfos pumping systems, xpot filtration, flamco water treatment / pressurisation system and 125mm dia welded pipework, it was a engineering challenge to get it all to fit and still arrive just under the safe working limits for the tower crane.

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