Fallin, a Scottish village with deep mining roots, seeks to heat its homes and businesses using water drawn from long-flooded coal mine shafts beneath its streets.

An initial £50,000 grant from Stirling Council will finance a comprehensive feasibility study, which has in turn made available a further £100,000 from the Centre for Net Zero High Density Buildings, a UKRI-funded research collaboration involving five Scottish universities.

Led by Fallin Community Voice, the project aims to harness geothermal heat stored in the flooded shafts of the former Polmaise Colliery, using heat pump technology to deliver low-carbon warmth – initially to the Fallin Community Garden, and ultimately to homes and businesses across the village.

Fallin’s identity is inseparable from Polmaise Colliery, which stood at the heart of community life for nearly a century. The pit holds a particular place in Scottish labour history as the first colliery to strike in 1984. Its closure in 1987 ended an era of heavy industry, yet the spirit of the “Polmaise men” has endured ever since.

Councillor Alasdair Macpherson, lead volunteer for the project, described it as “a transformative moment for Fallin”, adding that the funding allowed the village to move from a “what if” to a “how to”. He argued that former mining villages could be at the forefront of the net zero transition.

The feasibility study will assess the technical requirements for extracting heat from the mine workings and examine how a local heat network could serve the village. Naomi Ross of Fallin Community Voice added that, as energy prices continue to rise, the project represents one of several avenues being explored to improve the village’s long-term resilience.