McCarthy & Stone, the UK’s largest builder of retirement homes, is taking the lead in energy saving and installing heat pumps for the first time to achieve level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The award winning developer reviewed a range of alternatives for maximising energy efficiency and attain points for the Level 3 rating at its development in Clevedon, Somerset, and worked closely with the Dimplex team to specify the optimum solution for high performance.
Marc Primaroh, at McCarthy & Stone, says: “We investigated all sorts of options as part of our commitment to sustainability and using renewables. Dimplex delivered the most cost effective solution to date with the air source heat pumps. With this solution we were able to avoid the land considerations required when using ground source heat pumps.”
The purpose-built energy-efficient site, to the West of Bristol, will consist of 41 apartments including 10 two-bed homes. The three 28kW Dimplex air source heat pumps will service the entire block and be a communal system at the site with metering in each flat; in addition there will be a separate hot water cylinder for each home.
Dimplex offers the widest range of both air, ground and water source heat pumps. These highly efficient heat pumps can deliver up to 4kW of useful heat for every kW of energy they consume making heat pumps one of the most efficient forms of heating currently available.
The Dimplex air source heat pumps provide efficient heating and hot water from air temperatures as low as -25°C. Air source heat pumps have low installation costs and require minimal space. Dimplex heat pump installer partner Azure Natural Energy Systems will oversee this project which is due for completion early in 2009.
McCarthy & Stone has already achieved a code 2 rating at its development in Brentwood using a solar thermal solution, and now achieved a code 3 at Clevedon, but is now starting to think to the future. Marc continues: “We are now developing building design briefs to achieve code 4 and code 5 ratings to work towards achieving the government’s criteria for 2016 so we’re looking at combining Dimplex heat pumps with solar thermal solutions as well as other renewable energy and high efficiency electrical systems.”