Task: 11 systems in – 5 to go!
The week kicked off with a progress meeting between Hanover Housing Association, Kensa and SSE Contracting (our mechanical and electrical sub-contractor and also one of Hanover’s framework contractors who are carrying out the works inside the flats). The main aim of the meeting was to run through the current progress made in each flat and confirm the programme of works for the next two weeks to ensure that everything would be up-and-running by the end of September. Plus it gave everyone the opportunity to have some tea and cake, an important part of any meeting!
At the end of the meeting, a site-walk was held to allow all parties to observe the works that have been carried out and to agree any “snagging” issues to be addressed. There are a few patches of grass that have not grown back yet and so we will re-seed these to return them to their pre-drilling state. Additionally, we will also arrange a power washing of some areas of footpath where there are grease marks from the drilling equipment. Overall, even though we have drilled 12 boreholes to a combined depth of over 1700 metres there is surprisingly little remedial work to be carried out.
All parties will get together again for another meeting in about a month’s time once the project is fully completed. This will address any final issues but will also review the entire project, taking on board feedback gained from residents. This will help to shape future projects that Hanover HA hope to carry out as well as helping Kensa to continually monitor and improve its working processes.
It was a busy and successful week on site. By the end of the week, a further 11 individual heat pump systems were completed in the flats taking the completed total up to 17. Progress was really good this week as there were no unforeseen issues to overcome. Additionally, all the plumbers and electricians are now more familiar with the installation process and this helps to quicken the completion rate as well. This means that there are only five flat systems to complete next week along with the system for the site office, which means that everyone is confident that the works will be completed by the end of September.
So far, there has been little requirement for the heating to be switched on in the flats as the weather has remained relatively warm. However, the heat pumps are now producing hot water in the flats and tenants are noticing increased water pressure at the taps now that they have a new unvented hot water cylinder. It is a significant improvement over the previous system.
With one week to go until the completion deadline, read more next week to see how we get on.
Next week’s key project stage: The final week on site, with the remaining five heat pumps in and commissioned
Keep following our blog to stay up to date with this brilliant first project between Kensa Heat Pumps and Hanover Housing Association.
Project in brief:
- 22 flats – 21 are 1 bedroom and 1 is a 2 bedroom flat;
- Built in 1977;
- Heated by electric night storage heaters which have reached the end of their useful life and need replacing;
- Residents aged 55 +;
- A Kensa Shoebox ground source heat pump (6kW) to be installed inside each flat;
- New 150 litre unvented hot water cylinders in each flat;
- New radiators in each flat;
- New heating controls in each flat, which will be much easier for the residents to use;
- A ground source heat pump for the site office;
- 12 boreholes will be drilled with depths up to 154 metres to form a communal ‘micro district ground source heat pump system’.
Read more about the background to this first project between Hanover Housing Association and Kensa Heat Pumps here.
