Project Description

Southwaite Green was conceived as a ‘green’ project whose aim was to combine the best of renewable technology with traditional building style and high levels of comfort and elegance. These spacious and luxurious holiday cottages, situated in the beautiful Lake District, have achieved a 5-star rating from Visit Britain and offer eco design and energy-efficient heating technologies.

The client wanted to use local contractors wherever possible and Arctic Air won the bid to design and install a system that would utilise free energy from the sun, air and ground all-year round to reduce the carbon footprint of the development.

System Overview

We installed ground-source heat pumps to draw energy from the ground outside the Skiddaw and Esther’s Barn cottages, while air-source heat pumps were used for the Buttermere and Beckside cottages. The heat pumps are complemented by all-round insulation and underfloor heating for a clean and labour-free heating solution.

A solar heating system boosts heating for the domestic water and reduces the energy requirement from the heat pumps. During the summer, long days and sunny weather mean there is less use of electricity for hot water. We procured and installed the solar collectors and controls and undertook the complex process of combining it with the heat pump system.

Milestones

Incorporating microgeneration technologies into the old farm building conversions was always going to be a challenge, but one we would take on.  At the time of installation, there were very few systems in the UK which integrated heat pumps and solar water heating into a single system. The installation at Southwaite Green was the very first time that solar water heating has been integrated with this type of inverter drive air source heat pump.

The inverter driven air source system has a role to play in providing low cost heating, in situations where a ground source heat pump would not be practical or economic. In particular, it will become a useful tool for addressing fuel poverty in social housing schemes.

What Marna had to say...

“Arctic Air won the bid for the work on the products offered. This was quite a complex and difficult build process and we needed the technical skills and expert assistance from Arctic Air to pull it all together.

The benefits of the system are clean green heating with little maintenance requirement and no space lost to radiators (due to underfloor heating), providing warm and comfortable houses for our guests. I would say to anyone thinking about installing systems like we have here- go ahead, it really works.”

Find out more at http://www.southwaitegreen.co.uk/ or contact us for information about any of our services.