Centrica has begun a UK-wide heat pump project together with social landlord Sanctuary Housing.
It will see nearly 600 properties have their existing heating technologies replaced with low carbon alternatives between now and October.
Homes across the North, North West, Midlands, East and South West will have an air source heat pump with a smart cylinder, intelligent heating controls, new radiators and pipework fitted.
A suite of products will be used from Mitsubishi including an Ecodan air source heat pump, an Ecodan R32 FTC6 monoblock pre-plumbed standard cylinder and an FTC5 controller. Additionally, individually-sized low water volume radiators from Stelrad will be used for the project.
These will be tailored to suit each one, two, three and four-bedroom home to ensure they are all brought up to an EPC rating of C or above.
The first 100 installs will be done by an approved contractor, while training and upskilling British Gas engineers who will then take over for the remainder of the project.
Planning, delivery and compliance of the project will be overseen by P H Jones, Centrica’s specialist social housing division. Carl Vaughan, business customer at the company said the project has “huge potential” to reduce bills and make a contribution towards net zero targets.
“For us, this is a fantastic opportunity to deliver a sustainable heating project on a national scale, with demand only set to grow over the coming months and years. We’re drawing on the specialist renewable energy skills, knowledge and resources across our business to make it happen, and to strengthen our position at the forefront of the UK’s transition towards cleaner, greener heating.”
It is being funded by Sanctuary, the Renewable Heat Incentive and the Warm Homes Fund, and each home will have a smart cylinder to monitors the systems performance and demonstrate that the funding requirements are being met.
“We have a responsibility to ensure our tenants live in warm homes that are cost effective to heat, reducing fuel poverty and increasing quality of life,” added Donna Williams, director of sustainability and climate change for Sanctuary.
“Our energy management team continuously monitors energy consumption across our portfolio and identified an opportunity for this project to improve the energy efficiency of some of our homes and identify any areas for future improvements.”
The project follows Centrica announcing in February that it was to install heat pumps and other low carbon technology at 78 homes in East Devon. This was undertaken as part of the Green Homes Grant, with the voucher scheme element of this having since been shuttered by the government, leading to concern over the impact of inconsistent policy for the rollout of low carbon heat technologies like heat pumps.
