Product Case · Strategic Advisory

Glasgow wanted to accelerate district heating toward Net Zero — without a structured way to prioritize projects, govern delivery, or de-risk funding.

Academic strategic advisory project completed with the University of Strathclyde, Sustainable Glasgow and Partners (Aug–Sep 2024). This is a strategic proposal — the recommended frameworks and their business impact are anticipated outcomes, not measured results from implementation.

District heating could help Glasgow hit its Net Zero targets, but accelerating it meant coordinating public and private stakeholders, prioritizing projects under real uncertainty, and attracting funding that was hard to de-risk. I proposed a set of data-driven frameworks — from MCDA and scenario modelling to investment appraisal and performance monitoring — giving Sustainable Glasgow and partners a structured way to evaluate and govern DHN acceleration.

Who Sustainable Glasgow and DHN partners Coordinate investment and delivery decisions across public and private organizations.

What Prioritize projects and de-risk funding with evidence A shared set of frameworks for governance, prioritization, and investment appraisal.

Why 8 tools, 3 categories Strategic analysis, decision modelling, and investment appraisal, proposed as one coordinated toolkit.

Key challenges & solutions

Challenge

Complex governance and stakeholder alignment for DHN acceleration.

Solution

Clear governance models and collaborative frameworks to coordinate public-private investment and decision-making.

Challenge

Uncertainty in project prioritization and impact assessment.

Solution

MCDA, scenario modelling, and probabilistic risk assessment for data-driven prioritization and risk mitigation.

Challenge

Attracting and de-risking funding for large-scale infrastructure.

Solution

Investment appraisal methods (DCF, causal mapping) and cost-benefit analysis to support evidence-based funding decisions.

Challenge

Ensuring long-term sustainability and performance monitoring.

Solution

Performance monitoring frameworks and sustainability planning tools to track progress against Net Zero goals.

What we changed

Proposed governance that spans organizationsCollaborative frameworks to coordinate public and private investment decisions, not siloed sign-off.
Recommended a prioritization method, not gut callsMCDA and scenario modelling to rank projects on technical, economic, and social factors together.
Built risk assessment in before funding, not afterProbabilistic risk assessment and investment appraisal (DCF, causal mapping) to de-risk funding cases up front.
Proposed a way to track progress against Net ZeroPerformance monitoring frameworks tied directly to the target, not a generic dashboard.

The proposal wasn't a single recommendation — it was a shared toolkit for governance, prioritization, and funding decisions.

What it moved

4 challenges, 4 solutions

Each paired with a specific framework

governance, prioritization, funding, and long-term monitoring

8 strategic tools

Recommended across the proposal

MCDA, scenario modelling, risk assessment, PESTEL, SWOT, DCF, causal mapping, performance monitoring

3 tool categories

Strategic analysis, decision modelling, investment appraisal

one coordinated toolkit, not disconnected recommendations