Driving Innovation & Investment – Amberside Advisors’ 2025 Project Highlights

The passing year has been one of Amberside Advisors’ most dynamic to date, marked by a diverse set of landmark assignments across energy, transport, water and heat networks. From long-standing partnerships to rapidly growing relationships with new clients, our team has worked at pace to support projects that push the boundaries of innovation, resilience and decarbonisation across UK infrastructure. Below is a look back at some of the work we were most proud to deliver in 2025.

Transaction Modelling for a Landmark Bid for a New Era of Cross-Channel Rail

Amberside Advisors has been supporting Equitix for many years across a wide range of infrastructure sectors, and in 2025 we continued that partnership by providing transaction modelling for Equitix’s role in the joint bid with Virgin Group and Azzurra Capital to open up competition on the Channel Tunnel route.

The regulatory approval announced in October, granted Virgin access to the Temple Mills depot, moving the project significantly closer to what may become a transformative shift in cross-Channel rail. With Equitix set to fund the procurement of the new rolling stock that will enable Virgin’s planned high-speed services across Europe, this milestone reflects real momentum behind a long-awaited change in international rail connectivity, and we were delighted to have played a part in it.

Independent Assurance for the £3bn Haweswater Aqueduct Scheme

Amberside Advisors continued its involvement in pioneering infrastructure delivery models in 2025 with its appointment to provide assurance services on the £3bn Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Programme (HARP). The landmark scheme, which reached financial close in August, is the first major project delivered under OfWAT’s new Direct Procurement for Customers framework and will refurbish the 110-kilometre aqueduct supplying millions across the North West.

Jointly awarded by United Utilities and OfWAT, the sector regulator, HARP brings together a coalition of investors and contractors to deliver a resilient, long-term water asset. Our independent role will provide assurance that both the correct charges are levied on customers and that the new regulatory framework is properly applied in practice.

Investment Assurance for a Pioneering Floating Offshore Wind Project

Amberside Advisors continued to support the growth of the UK’s clean energy sector by providing assurance for the first investment by UK Government in a floating offshore wind project. Supporting the Scottish National Investment Bank, the National Wealth Fund and Great British Energy, we provided independent assurance on the financial model underpinning their early-stage commitments to this pioneering floating wind scheme in the Pentland Firth.

Developed by Highland Wind Limited and majority-owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, the project is set to power up to 70,000 homes and help accelerate the industrialisation of floating offshore wind across Scotland. Amberside Advisors’ involvement reinforces its expertise in complex transactions and its role in strengthening confidence in innovative technologies that support the UK’s energy security and decarbonisation ambitions.

Transaction Advisory for a Heat Network Zoning Pilot

Amberside Advisors has accelerated its activity across the UK heat network sector in 2025 through its appointment for the Plymouth Advanced Zoning Programme (AZP) project. Acting as a transaction advisor and leading on both commercial and financial elements, Amberside Advisors’ team is responsible for taking the opportunity to market, as part of the first pilot under DESNZ’s Heat Network Zoning Framework.

The initial phase of the project will provide 56GWh of annual heating demand and 14GWh of annual cooling demand, with the potential to expand to over 200GWh of heating and 60GWh of cooling across the city. It represents a significant step forward in low-carbon heat network development, leveraging waste heat sources and ground-source schemes to deliver substantial carbon savings. Amberside Advisors’ appointment to Plymouth HNZ project underscores its leadership at the cutting edge of the district energy sector and its ability to provide comprehensive advisory support on complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives.

Supporting Renewables Investor’s Refinancing & Expansion Strategy

In 2025, Amberside Advisors team has supported Ampyr Distributed Energy (ADE) through two consecutive assignments that facilitated the company’s rapid expansion in the UK distributed renewables market. Early in the year, Amberside Advisors provided full-scope financial modelling for ADE’s £170 million senior debt facility with Crédit Agricole CIB, developing a robust business plan model, validating key assumptions and guiding the process through to financial close.

Building on that foundation, Amberside Advisors’ team was subsequently engaged to support ADE’s £50 million mezzanine financing from Franklin Templeton - one of the largest deals of its kind in the UK C&I renewables sector. Together, these transactions have raised more than £200 million of debt capacity in 2025, giving ADE the financial strength to accelerate its solar and battery pipeline across the UK. Amberside Advisors’ ongoing role highlights our ability to provide seamless support across multiple stages of a client’s capital-raising strategy.

Business Modelling and Data Analysis to Support Strategic Planning

Amberside Advisors has continued to provide sustained support to a major energy system operator throughout 2025, helping them address evolving business needs across strategic options analysis, better business planning and more robust budgeting processes. Our work began with a redesign of their Group business planning modelling, involving streamlining data integration, improving calculation speed and enhancing reporting to give stakeholders greater confidence.

Our initial work was very well-received and we were subsequently engaged at divisional level to assist in streamlining planning processes and to implement tactical modelling and data handling solutions, providing continuity and expertise across our client’s planning landscape. Across each assignment, Amberside Advisors has focused on helping the client simplify complex processes, implement better tooling solutions and improve decision-making - reinforcing our role as a trusted partner in navigating challenges in budgeting and planning, supporting our client’s transformation journey across the fast-moving energy sector.

Looking ahead

It’s been an outstanding year for Amberside Advisors. None of this would have been possible without the dedication and expertise of our team, and we are incredibly grateful to the clients who continue to trust us with their most important projects. We look forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead - pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in infrastructure investment and taking on new challenges that help shape a smarter, cleaner and more resilient future.