Commercial Case Study – Air to Air Heatpumps

Western Challenge Housing Association:

90 Air to Air Heatpumps installed

Although not concerned with Photovoltaic panels, this case study demonstrates our ability to be able to organise and deal with a large-scale housing association contract on a very tight timescale, completing it within the period and on budget.

It also demonstrates our competence with dealing with tenants and the challenges that can be presented, whilst maintaining a courteous and professional approach at all times.

The scope of works

We were given the opportunity to tender for the above contract, which we were delighted to be successful in winning. The contract consisted of removing electric night storage heaters and extraction equipment from 90 one- and two-bedroomed apartments in Chippenham, Wiltshire. These were to be replaced with Worcester Air-to-Air heatpump units.

The heatpumps come as two units, an indoor unit and an outdoor unit, which are connected together using refrigerant pipework.

Many of the apartments were two- and three-storey, meaning scaffold was required to allow the external units to be installed at a high level. The scaffold went up and was removed the same day.

There were many different trades required to complete each apartment, all directly employed by us and working closely together. These trades included refrigeration engineers, plasterers, builders and electricians, as well as the heatpump installers.

A considerable amount of electrical works was involved in each installation, and the timescale meant that we had to start and finish two installations every day.

Our works involved day-to-day contact with tenants throughout the duration of the contract. These were dealt with in a friendly and professional manner by our Tenant Liaison Officer, Mrs. Sarah Mahadevan.

The aim of the installations was to reduce the day-to-day fuel costs for the tenants by installing Worcester Air-to-Air Heatpump units, which are between 400% and 500% efficient.