New Linx Housing Trust: Retrofit

Ground Source Review: New Linx, Lincolnshire

New Linx is the largest Registered Social Landlord in Lincolnshire, managing around 6000 homes. New Linx Housing Trust has developments across the county which cater for all tenures and provide attractive, comfortable homes which are
economical to run.

New Linx was looking to replace the solid fuel boilers installed in over 225 properties of their housing stock, throughout Lincolnshire. Naturally, New Linx was keen to finance the work on as many properties as possible which meant a requirement for significant levels of grant funding. Further, New Linx wanted to involve their own management resource to help reduce project costs. Kensa introduced New Linx to Scottish & Southern Energy who committed over £1.25m of grant funding via their CERT programme to the project. Since solid fuel boilers emit significant levels of carbon, the grant amounts were generous; grant support averaged around £5000 per property.

To minimise New Linx’s additional spend Kensa scaled back the additional metal work and features of its Single Compact model to reduce unit cost. Furthermore, Kensa also suggested a cost effective innovative project management approach, with the drilling contractor working under a separate contract. The drilling contractor provided and installed the ground probe and trenched the pipework back to the property. Reducing the costs further, the physical installation of the heat pump involved local mechanical and electrical contractors who had an existing relationship with New Linx. Kensa provided a final check commissioning service.