London and southern England social housing association advocates heat pump retrofit

A new study looking at one of the largest housing association shows £700 annual saving on energy bills from low carbon tech trial.

Billed as a ‘pioneering retrofit programme’, a partnership between Mitsubishi Electric and Sovereign Network Group [SNG] has seen the latter’s social housing properties benefit from heat pump installations.

The technology – Ecodan R290 high-temperature air source heat pumps – uses existing microbore and small bore pipework, with minimal disruption as a result. It was previously thought this type of infrastructure was incompatible with heat pumps.

Performance of the system is not effected by low temperatures, and can improve efficiency by up to 300% compared with old has boilers. Meanwhile, households stand to save around £700 annually through the switch. SNG currently manages 84,000 homes for 210,000 customers across London and southern England.

‘This solution emerged from our desire to innovate and balance key priorities for both our customers and SNG: minimising disruption, cutting fuel bills, avoiding early replacement of components, and reducing both installation cost and the ongoing maintenance costs,’ said Jim Dyer, Built Environment Director at SNG. ‘It’s an ambitious holistic approach that places our customers’ wellbeing and operational cost-effectiveness at its core.’

‘The ability to retain microbore/small bore pipework of all types is a game-changer for retrofit projects,’ added James Chaplen, Mitsubishi Electric Head of Product Marketing and Communications. ‘With our Ecodan heat pumps working effectively with existing systems, we’re removing a major financial and logistical hurdle. This opens the door for housing providers like SNG to scale-up their net zero efforts without compromising on resident comfort or driving up costs.’

Image: Luca / Unsplash

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