Twenty-first century specialist pipe work technology from Flexenergy has been used to upgrade the heating system at Headstone Manor, a 14th century moated manor house which was formerly the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury and which forms part of the Headstone Manor Museum.
The manor is a Grade 1 listed building which is now under the control of Harrow London Borough Council. Restoration projects and redevelopment of the site will be carried out over a number of years and a recent project involved the renewal of the heating system in the 16th century Grade II* Tithe Barn. The heating system was previously by all electric storage type units.
The old system had fallen into disrepair, was expensive to run and underperforming. With no natural gas supply to the site, biomass boilers and a district heating network appealed to the Council's sustainable aspirations, which was made more appealing by the Government's Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
James Allister of Silcock Leedham Consulting Engineers, explains what the project involved: "The site on which the Tithe Barn stands (now used as an events venue) is architecturally sensitive, so we located a packaged biomass plantroom in a more appropriate service yard some 150m away to distribute heat to an internal heat exchanger serving the low pressure hot water heating system. The main has been laid with valve off branches in access chambers in readiness for the phased redevelopment of other buildings on the site."
Allister added: "Flexenergy's Flexalen pre-insulated pipe work was chosen for the project as it provided a balance between good performance and competitive cost. In addition, Flexenergy always provides good technical advice and technical support, including on-site support for the installers".
Flexenergy's Sales Director, Sandy Fairley, commented: "This was a very interesting project for us to be involved in and the Flexalen pipe work was very well suited to the new heating system installed. It is lightweight and highly flexible making it easier to install and very heat loss efficient. Also, being made of polybutylene it will not corrode over time - although I can't guarantee it will last for centuries!"