Potterton Commercial boilers used in listed building rehabilitation facility

Baxi Commercial Division has donated two Potterton Commercial boilers to Passmores House, a brand new £3.1 million rehabilitation facility located in the centre of Harlow, Essex and designed by award-winning community architects Hazle McCormack Young LLP. Originally an uninhabited Grade II listed building, Vale House Stabilisation Services purchased Passmores House over four years ago and, last year, were awarded £3 million of capital funding from the Government to renovate the property. Baxi Commercial Division was approached by CRASH, the construction and property industries’ charity for homeless people, regarding the donation of the boilers and were delighted to support the project, knowing what a positive difference it would make to the community.

Passmores House provides care for people with substance misuse problems, having state-of-the-art Detoxification and Rehabilitation facilities and offering patients the chance to address the underlying causes of their addictions, as well as the addictions themselves. The facility consists of two wings, both of which are served from one plant room, located adjacent to the kitchen in the original building. This building is now the Rehabilitation wing and contains seven residential rooms plus a staff sleepover facility, all with en suite bathrooms, as well as communal areas including lounge, conservatory, gym, dining room and kitchen.

The Detoxification wing is a brand new, separate building which operates as a self-contained unit and is attached to the main house via a covered walkway. It offers seven bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, a four bed medical ward, communal lounge and dining space and a Hydrotherapy spa. The two Paramount two 115kW boilers serve the heating and hot water systems for both wings.

David Lawrence, surveyor for the project on behalf of Killby & Gayford Limited, commented, “Due to the Grade II listing of Passmores House, there was only minimal space allocated for the plant room. Consequently, the project required heating equipment that was both compact and easy to manoeuvre. The Paramount two boilers were well suited for this project as they are light, have a very small footprint and are simple to install. The boilers serve all areas, including the medical ward which must be operational 24 hours a day, so reliability was another major factor in their selection.”

Paramount two wall-hung high efficiency condensing boilers feature an advanced ISR control system which can be used with a simple room thermostat or, as in this installation, with a fully integrated Building Energy Management System. Also incorporated in the boiler is inbuilt weather compensation, summer/winter changeover and time control facilities for added efficiency control, helping to keep the running costs of Passmores House to a minimum.

Available in six outputs, ranging from 30kW to 115kW, the Paramount two range of boilers uses the very latest in heating technology, incorporating a superior aluminium/ silicon alloy heat exchanger with an industry leading lifetime guarantee(terms and conditions apply).  The combustion system in these boilers delivers exceptional energy efficiency of up to 109% net, as well as advanced ultra low NOx performance of less than 20mg/kWh, exceeding Class 5.

Vale House Stabilisation Services is a not for profit organisation and registered charity, providing residential treatment for people with problems such as alcohol dependency, illicit drug misuse, eating disorders and gambling. The first residential rehabilitation home opened by the charity was Vale House in Hertford, back in 1996, a now nationally recognised treatment unit. Its success is demonstrated by one of the highest percentages of positive client outcomes in the UK, with a residential rehabilitation retention rate of 85%. The individual-based holistic approach that has been so successful at Vale House has been refined over many years by founder and chief executive Chris Hannaby. This same philosophy is being applied in the approach to help residents at Passmores House.

CRASH is one of the main supporters for Vale House Stabilisation Services. CRASH is a practical charity that brings together the skills, products and goodwill of the building industry to improve temporary and permanent accommodation, as well as other facilities, for frontline homelessness agencies who work directly with homeless people.