Panasonic heat pumps have been installed into 33, two, three and four-bedroom new build homes as part of a “Homes England” research project to provide innovative zero carbon ready homes. Gedling Green, a regenerative housing project in Nottinghamshire has been developed on an old coal mining colliery site by open-market affordable housing developers, Keepmoat Homes. Panasonic’s Aquarea J Series units with smart controls were selected for the research project by Keepmoat, due to their high energy efficiency and low noise characteristics. The installations were completed by electrical contractors M. A. Broughton and plumbing company, Nigel Smith.
Birmingham City University’s (BCU) Centre for Future Homes has been commissioned to carry out research to provide data on the energy and carbon efficiency of the homes to ensure the chosen technology adopted can be scaled up for future developments.
New legislation is due to be introduced later this year (2025) to make all new homes “zero carbon ready.” Looking to meet the government’s Future Homes Standard, Keepmoat Homes received investment from Homes England to promote the advanced delivery of homes designed to the anticipated Future Homes Standard, as well as additional funding from both Halifax and Leeds Building Society to support the evaluation of in occupation feedback from customers.
The Future Homes Standard building regulations will require new homes to produce 75-80% lower CO2 than current standard builds. To prepare for this transition, all homes on the site have been fitted with air source heat pumps, solar PV panels, increased insulation levels, electric vehicle charging points and smart hot water cylinders.
Trudie McCormick, Group Technical Development Director at Keepmoat Homes said, “Working alongside our energy consultants and M&E designers, it became very clear that a range of differences exist between the different air source products available on the market including their respective efficiencies.”
Offering an end-to-end package which included on-site training to the development teams, Panasonic maintained close communication with Keepmoat Homes throughout the project. Commenting on Keepmoat Homes’ experience of working with Panasonic, Trudie continued, “It was a pleasure to work with the team at Panasonic Heating and Cooling, they were very transparent and offered a lot of technical advice and clear evidence to back up their claims. We could tell that they were going to be very helpful from the outset and very happy to come to site and provide training support to the site teams, sales teams, and aftercare teams. The Panasonic Aquarea J Series heat pump delivers high efficiency and operates at a low flow temperature, providing greater efficiencies when compared to a gas boiler. We have already planned to install a large number of Panasonic heat pump units in some of our other sites across the UK and will continue to install them in our future home developments.”
To measure the efficiency of the Panasonic systems fitted into each home, a corresponding research study is also underway, headed by the Centre of Future Homes at Birmingham City University, a primary research centre in the transition to low carbon homes and net zero, both in new builds and retrofit applications. The study will monitor how people will use the technology in their homes by assessing the energy usage at the Gedling Green development over the next two years. The research aims to conclude whether the homes can reduce energy by an estimated 51%, compared with the 2013 Building Regulation standards. Measuring the energy usage and comfort of the privately rented and owned houses using energy monitors, the researchers are hoping to gather concrete evidence to support an expected 91% reduction in carbon output of the homes.
Mike Leonard, a visiting Professor at Birmingham City University, with extensive industry experience, plus his team, were fully involved right from the start of the project and witnessing the challenges along the way, he commented, “What’s been discovered from the research we've done so far, is that 50% of the challenge is actually in how people live in the properties and how they adapt to it. Whatever we do with installing and commissioning the heat pumps, if people then don't understand the technology or adapt to working with it in a different way to, say a gas boiler, then we don't get the outcome that we're trying to achieve.”
Mike continued, “Panasonic was specified because the system delivers a high coefficient of performance combined with easy installation and use of smart maintenance tools also won us over.”
The Panasonic J Series is available in a range of sizes from 5 to 16 kW and can be connected to the domestic hot water tank (DHW) for ease of installation. Delivering a high energy efficiency rating of A+++ Energy Class at 35ºC and A++ at 55ºC, plus a high SCOP capacity, the Panasonic system can work under higher pressure and reach a 60ºC water flow temperature for top class energy efficiency and lower running costs.
Following the successful installation of the Panasonic units, Keepmoat Homes have contracted further Panasonic units to be installed in future sites around the UK.
For more information on the wide range of Panasonic heating and cooling solutions visit the website. Or visit www.keepmoat.com, nsmithplumbing.co.uk, mabroughtonelectrical.co.uk, centreforfuturehomes.org
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