Welborne Garden Village, described as a new generation sustainable garden village will ultimately see the installation of a 6000-home energy network, using an underground reservoir to drive the heat pumps.
The network supplied by utility infrastructure owner and operator, Last Mile will deliver heating and cooling to 700 new homes, commercial premises, and community buildings in the first phase of the development.
Buckland Development, the Master Developer of the new community, worked with Portsmouth Water on the project to use reservoir water to provide heating and cooling. The technology, described as the first of its kind, is being designed and built by Rendesco and will draw water from Portsmouth Water’s underground Hoads Hill Reservoir.
Mark Thistlethwayte, chairman of Buckland Group, said:
Welborne is a new generation sustainable garden village, so our residents and businesses will rightly expect their buildings to be energy efficient and climate-change resilient…Being involved in Welborne for the long-term both financially and practically, Buckland is taking a different development approach to mainstream housebuilders. We are designing and developing the community holistically, so we can take strategic decisions to invest in innovative technology and deploy it at scale.
The partners report the more stable and higher average temperature of the reservoir will make the network significantly more efficient than using air source heat pumps, offering 50% less carbon emissions than air source heat pumps and costing an average three bedroom house owner around £160 per year less than an air source heat pump.
The network can provide cooling in the warmer months by reversing the process and includes an innovative energy exchange function which allows heat to be transferred between homes and other buildings.
As a result, the complete network has the potential to save over 272,000 tonnes of carbon in the first 25 years of operation, compared with gas boilers, the companies say.
Last Mile Heat, a joint venture between Last Mile and Rendesco will own the Welborne network and is Heat Trust registered.
Alastair Murray, founder and chief executive of Rendesco and director of Last Mile Heat, said:
This proves undoubtedly that heat networks are the best low-carbon heating and hot water solution for homeowners, businesses and developers. Rendesco, together with Last Mile Heat, relishes the opportunity to work with ambitious developers, such as Welborne, who put long-term sustainable living at the forefront of their decision making. With the Future Homes Standard now confirmed for 2025, we are seeing a huge gap opening up between the housebuilders that are embracing low carbon heating, for the benefits that it offers their customers, and those that are not. This project is a template for future housing developments of all shapes and sizes and gives developers the confidence to design their projects, no matter how big or small, around our low carbon heat networks.
Bob Taylor, chief executive of Portsmouth Water, added:
We’re incredibly excited to be a partner in this first of its kind initiative in the UK…The water that supplies our service reservoir at Hoads Hill comes from an underground aquifer that has the capacity to supply natural energy to the low-carbon heat network serving the development. Longer term, the design principles here are a blueprint for future environmentally led developments right across the UK.
