Residents of Quayside Court in Lakenheath, Suffolk, have been able to enjoy warm homes with lower heating bills, thanks to a new communal ground source heat pump installed by Finn Geotherm. Owned and managed by housing association Flagship,
the 21 bungalows were built during 1970s. Heating was
provided by individual electric storage heaters and a
shared oil boiler, which were inefficient and expensive
to run.
The new district heating scheme uses one central ground source heat pump housed in a standalone plant room. Heat is collected from under the ground via 14 boreholes installed beneath the parking area and two Lämpöässä ground source heat pumps generate all the heating and hot water for each home. Every bungalow is individually metered and customers are only charged for the energy they use. Quayside Court residents are now enjoying cheaper energy bills – costing around 56% less than before. Energy use has also been cut by 70%, making a significant impact on carbon emissions and providing a more affordable and efficient living environment for Flagship customers, as well as having a significant impact on fuel poverty. The installation makes servicing of the heat pumps very simple as they are in a separate building and does not require access to be made available by the tenant. The installation also qualifies for the Non-domestic RHI.