Our Services

Our principle competency is the design and installation of modern heat and power systems. By combining some of the newer technologies such as thermal storage, heat recovery, ground source heat exchange, solar thermal, photovoltaics and biomass alongside conventional gas, oil and electrical appliances we create robust hybrid systems for urban, suburban and rural buildings

The key characteristics of these systems are that they should

• heat and keep ongoing fuel costs as low as possible,
• minimise CO2 emissions,
• have low  maintenance requirements,
• provide options for fuel flexibility, and
• use sustainable resources, wherever this is viable.

Also, perhaps most importantly, there should be no need for you to sacrifice modern standards of performance and convenience. No single technology on its own can achieve all these outcomes.

Whilst we have the capability to install and support the full range of heating system technologies (gas, oil, electricity, biomass, geothermal and solar), we do not get involved in maintaining conventional systems that rely solely on burning fossil fuels. Unless a project offers scope to significantly reduce carbon emissions as well as fuel costs, it is not for us.  

We frame our system design procedures within the established energy assessment methodologies including SAP, Code for Sustainable Homes, and AECB Carbon Lite.

As a member of the Association of Environmentally Conscious Builders (AECB), we provide a design and installation service to assist architects, developers and builders with the integration of low energy/low CO2 technologies into their projects. Wherever possible the technologies for ventilation, heating, cooling and power need to be incorporated into a building’s fabric, not just bolted on during the first fix stage. The ground on which a building sits, its foundations, its thermal mass, its internal layout and its orientation all have important roles to play in maintaining a comfortable living environment across the seasons whilst minimising energy use and CO2 emissions.

For new builds, where possible, we prefer to use dynamic thermal modelling (TAS 9.0.9e) to understand the intra daily and inter seasonal variations in a building’s thermal performance. We find that this is significantly more useful in designing systems than the ‘steady state’ model that underpins SAP.

As a registered OCDEA we provide SAP energy assessments and issue Energy Performance Certificates for new build projects for compliance with the requirements of Part L (Conservation of Fuel and Power) Building Regulations.  We will also use SAP more broadly to estimate peak heating losses and annual energy consumption for dwellings.  

Wherever economically feasible we aim to go beyond the minimal stipulations embodied in current building regulations and to demonstrate how the higher standards of energy efficiency promoted by the AECB’s Carbon Lite programme, Code for Sustainable Homes levels 4, 5 and 6 and Passivhaus can be readily attained.

Many of our projects have been on listed buildings, are within designated conservation areas or areas of outstanding natural beauty, and as such may not be covered under permitted development rights. We have a demonstrably successful track record of navigating these more complex projects through the planning process and will prepare and assemble the application documentation and act as owner’s agent, if requested.

We place special emphasis on systems for monitoring and control of a building’s environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, air quality etc) and the efficient performance of its energy generating, storage and distribution systems.  Using a controller linked to a network of sensors, measurements can be logged in real time and downloaded for subsequent analysis on a computer. From a better understanding of how components interact with the building, the performance of a system can be fine tuned.

Too often poorly installed systems will fail to perform to expectation. We are sometimes called in by housing associations and similar organisations to audit, diagnose faults and undertake remedial works for systems installed by others. Each of the faults detected during the audit is analysed to determine and cost an appropriate remedial action. An audit report is prepared for the client's review and a schedule and budget for remedial works is agreed.

In multiple occupancy environments the most effective way of ensuring that a shared heating and hot water system is maintained in a fully functional condition is to train a site manager or interested residents to use the controllers and in simple fault diagnosis (visual inspection only). We occasionally undertake onsite training to ensure that users get the most out of their systems.