Smarter, cheaper, cleaner heat for Roddons residents across Fenland

Roddons Housing Association will be rolling out affordable heat to over 550 of its Fenland properties currently heated by solid fuel, oil or electric night storage heaters over the next three years. This is forecast to reduce residents’ energy bills by up to £100 per month and cut carbon emissions by 50 per cent.

The announcement follows a 12 month pilot installation of air and ground source heat pumps by the housing association, in partnership with its contractor The Apollo Group, in a bid to address fuel poverty across its residents.

The results from the initial programme of 13 ground and 27 air source heat pumps were extremely positive. Major cost savings were achieved following the switch from night storage heaters to air source heat pumps, which are more suitable for smaller homes. For larger homes a massive reduction in running costs of 50 per cent was recorded for the ground source heat pump homes.

The success of the pilot has led to the team’s decision to use this less expensive, environmentally friendly alternative. This will mean the end for oil-fired central heating, gas installations and storage heaters for these properties.

Alan Westlake, Asset Manager for Roddons Housing Association, said: “As a responsible landlord dedicated to enhancing the Life Chances of our residents we are determined to address fuel poverty as it is a major issue for many of our residents.”

“We are extremely pleased with the results for this environmentally friendly alternative, especially as the benefits come at little disruption or cost for our residents. An air source heat pump unit can be fitted outside the property in one day and we need only two days to install a ground source heat pump. This is definitely an effective way to drive down our carbon footprint at the same time as reducing the living costs for our residents.”

The new eco systems warm the house and heat water for the residents. By replacing the old hot water tank with an immersion heater, hot water is available whenever it is needed. Serviced on a regular basis, the average life-span of an air or ground source heat pump is about 15 years.

Sharon Marshall, who lives in one of the trial properties, said: “The new ground source heat pumps are ten times better than the storage heaters I had before. The storage heaters were totally uncontrollable – often too hot in the morning and too cold at night – and we didn’t have any heaters in the bathroom or kitchen. With the new pump, we have radiators in every room of the house and, because they are automatically thermostatically-controlled against the temperature outside, the house now stays at a constantly comfortable temperature. It also has a booster so that I can up the temperature as and when I need to.”

“I had a two-week old baby when Apollo started to install the new ground source heat pump and the team couldn’t do enough to help me. They left storage heaters in my living room so that we weren’t cold during the works – even though they were having to remove them in all other cases – and they even stayed here until 9pm one night to make sure the new system fired up properly as the longer pipes may have needed more water adding. Admittedly, we had a bit of a mess in the garden while the new pipes were being fitted but Apollo made sure they replaced everything as it was once the job had been completed and you would never know the work had been done now. The only minor downside I’ve experienced is the addition of a cupboard in the hallway that stores the above ground part of the system but I’m already used to it and barely notice it now.”

Peter Fulcher, Apollo Regional Director, added: “Minimising disruption to residents is always a priority for Apollo and, with a young family to look after, it was important that Sharon could keep her home warm throughout the work. As well as making good above ground after the work, we also had to be aware of interfering with links to existing underground facilities during the process, as installing the ground source heat pumps meant drilling down 100m. With so much to consider, we are delighted that the work has been such a smooth-running success and that the resulting heating solution has been so effective for the residents.”

The programme is being rolled out to all homes with solid fuel and electric heating, with existing oil fires system customers being given the option to switch to green technology when their boilers are due for replacement.

The cost of installation has been helped with funding from British Gas through their Low Carbon Building Programme (LCBP) and Carbon Energy Reduction Target (CERT) schemes and 50% grand funding from the government.