The John Lewis Partnership has shown its commitment to wood heating by installing a Euroheat biomass boiler at a new build spa and wellness centre in Snowdonia on the banks of Bala Lake, built specifically as a haven for John Lewis staff to take holidays and short-breaks.
The HDG Compact 50kW wood chip boiler now provides heat and hot water for the spa's swimming pool and underfloor heating systems, alongside the 1500 litre buffer tank FRA delivery system.
The building is eligible to receive £5,500 per year thanks to non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments and is estimated to be saving some 27 tonnes in CO2 when compared to an oil system.
The biomass system will use approximately 26 tonnes of G30 wood chip, which is sourced from local woodland already owned by the John Lewis Partnership, helping to make the building as sustainable as possible; something the business was very keen on.
The HDG Compact boiler itself features a vertical heat exchanger, which combined with its automatic cleaning system, helps to maintain very high efficiency and only requires annual maintenance. It is designed to burn woodchips, pellets and shavings and is delivered completely assembled. Remote maintenance and SMS control functions are also available.
Renewables installation firm, Menai Heating of Anglesey, North Wales, took on the project. Owner Lee Maher, explained: "We had previously worked with the timber frame company who took on the complete build and, as a result, we were asked to quote for the biomass install. We worked closely with Euroheat on the design and installation and, because everything was built as specified, the installation ran very smoothly.
"It was only our second wood chip installation and the HDG Compact boiler is very installer-friendly and problem-free, which helped us a lot."
The two-storey site, which incorporates a swimming pool, therapy rooms, gym, games rooms and multi-activity space, also includes a water harvesting system to process waste water from the complex due to the location of the hotel. The building has been constructed to BREEAM Excellent, with timber frame walls which have been highly insulated using sheep's wool, as well as sporting locally sourced external cladding.
