A development of 12
affordable homes in a quiet Somerset village was the recent focus for a large
opening celebration, in honour of its efforts to sustainably connect the
community to lower cost housing and energy.
Unveiled in
September 2018, the mixed development of 1-bedroom flats and 3 and 2-bedroom
semi-detached houses and bungalows, was met with enthusiasm from the local
community for its contribution to much-needed local, affordable,
energy-efficient housing.
Donna Johnson, Chief
Executive of South Western Housing Society, explains: “South Western Housing
Society is very proud of its new development in Mark, which is an example of
our approach to working in partnership with organisations to achieve the common
goal of providing more housing for those in need in local communities.
“Our commitment to
providing good quality, high performing homes is one of the golden threads that
runs through our business. It is testament to the project teams open
relationship that we have been able to deliver these affordable homes and help
families stay connected to their local area.”
The developers of
the homes in Mark took the brief to connect local families to the local area
quite literally, employing the services of Cornish ground source heat pump
manufacturer, Kensa Heat Pumps, and their delivery partner Kensa Contracting,
to utilise the freely-occurring heat available in the ground as a source for
guaranteed heat and hot water to the new properties.
Paul Davies, Senior
Surveyor at developers of Tuckers Park, E G Carter & Co Ltd, says: “This
has been a fantastic advertisement for collaborative working to deliver these
beautiful new homes to the village of Mark. The new homes are excellent examples
of great design and the embodiment of modern technology to ensure they sit well
with the local character and tradition. The properties’ Kensa ground source
heat pumps will bring the community and South Western Housing Society long term
benefits as well as reduced energy bills and happy tenants.
E G Carter & Co
Ltd certainly look forward to the opportunity of working with Kensa Heat Pumps
again in the future.”
Each dwelling at
Tuckers Park features a Kensa Shoebox ground source heat pump, which is
connected to a shared ground loop array (SGLA); a system consisting of a
100-120m deep borehole connected to clusters of typically two properties.
The SGLA
configuration allows South Western Housing Society to offset the ground source
heat pump costs via income through the Non Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive.
The design also
gives the local homeowners heating independence, with control over their own
energy use, and their own electricity bill; running costs savings of 48.4% are
expected compared to the alternative of LPG in the off-gas grid area.
By choosing to
install a non-combustion heat source in the form of ground source heat pumps,
as opposed to LPG or gas, over the systems 40 year lifetime the development in
Mark is expected to have prevented the equivalent of over 132kg of harmful
local NOx emissions, and 539 tonnes of CO2,
with a SAP rating of 87-90B.
Colin Powell,
Director at gcp Chartered Architects explains: “gcp have developed a number of
low energy and low carbon housing projects that utilise ground source heat
pumps as an effective way to substantially reduce carbon emissions and meet
planning requirements for sustainable new homes. We feel that Kensa’s GSHP
solution offers clients an easy to use, low maintenance technology, that helps
to deliver affordable homes for the future.”
David Broom of Kensa
Contracting says: “Tuckers Park is a fantastic example of how GSHP's can be
used in new build development to provide the best possible outcome for all
stakeholders. The tenants receive comfortable, controllable heating at a cost
lower than mains gas, despite being in an off gas area. The developer provides
a building that, thanks to the efficiency of the heat pump, provides a low
carbon solution, which meets the planning sustainability requirement by
delivering over 20% on site renewables, and the client has a reliable, low
lifetime cost heating solution, which is simple to operate and maintain, as
well as a 20 year income stream in the form of the RHI which more than covers
the capital cost of the installation.”
