Panasonic Aquarea Heat Pumps provide sustainable heating for homes in Cambridgeshire

In conjunction with East Cambridgeshire District Council, Palace Green Homes is in the final phase of a new 54-home residential development in the village of Haddenham, Cambridgeshire, with 19 affordable housing properties for the Haddenham Community Land Trust (CLT). The Team at Panasonic and Specialist heating and cooling distributor Oceanair, worked with CG Plumbing to provide each property with sustainable heating thanks to Panasonic’s Aquarea Mono-bloc air to water heat pumps which supply heating and domestic hot water to each home.

West End Gardens in Haddenham consists of one, two, three and four bed dwellings from bungalows, semi-detached and detached homes. All properties benefit from underfloor heating to the ground floor, with radiators to the first floor. Controllable, energy-efficient heating and hot water is supplied via the Panasonic Aquarea Mono-bloc air source heat pumps and unvented heat pump compatible cylinders.

With the UK Government push towards net zero targets by 2050 and the new SAP 10 regulations coming into force in June 2022, the housing industry is starting to utilise renewable technologies such as air source heat pumps much more.  Local authorities, social housing providers and developers are increasingly focussing on how to heat homes in the most energy efficient manner, along with homeowners and residents interested in new technologies offering cost savings over the years
to come.

Jon Soar, Design Manager for Palace Green Homes has been involved in the development at West End Gardens since conception, working with the team’s architects, covering on site feasibility, planning, design concepts, technical specs through to the construction itself. He commented, “East Cambridgeshire District Council has made a commitment to the climate emergency, by declaring to take all operations within the District to net zero by 2040. At Palace Green Homes, working on behalf of the District Council, we are trying to get ahead of the curve to deliver net zero by 2025. The way we are tackling this is through a policy of ‘be lean, be clean and be green.’ This means that we’re building highly insulated energy efficient homes, we are only installing energy efficient products and we’re using renewable technologies. Our approach is to build only electrically heated homes by primarily utilising air source heat pumps. The Panasonic Aquarea units are highly energy efficient and we believe this will help residents, especially with the rise in energy costs we are all seeing.”

The solution for the development was supplied by heat pump specialist company Oceanair, with the company’s Roland Gurner (known as Roly) specifying the Panasonic Aquarea Monobloc units: “One thing that was really clear from the offset with the developer,” explained Roly, “was that it was vital that we could provide continuity of supply during this current supply chain crisis. The system specified had to be adaptable to the different property requirements, as well as being highly energy efficient.”  

A previous supplier had been unable to deliver a product to meet the deadlines and therefore the Aquarea units and the installation team had to cope with the added challenge that some of the early homes on the development had already been set up with pipework and wiring for a different heat pump manufacturer. Roland Gurner continued: “Fortunately, the Panasonic range is flexible and we were able to adapt to the installed piping, and the systems more than meet all the energy efficient requirements of the varied dwellings in the entire development. Panasonic, typically provide very good ongoing support throughout a project, we therefore were able to very quickly secure the stock required, a competitive price and their technical support which was always on hand to point us in the right direction with any design or commissioning queries.”

To mitigate supply chain issues and product shortages across Europe in general, Oceanair has invested in its two warehouses and demonstration facilities in the UK. The company is able to hold more stock covering the whole country from bases in Mansfield and Crawley and is able to reassure customers that delivery of appropriate product is possible.

The Aquarea Mono-bloc is a single system to heat and cool the home and produce hot water, thus solving a variety of problems while allowing occupants to enjoy greater comfort. The Mono-bloc range can be simply connected to underfloor heating, radiators, or fan coil units. The range boasts high energy efficiency, is rated A+++ at 35˚C and A++ at 55˚C plus has a high SCOP capacity. Furthermore, the impressive system can work under higher pressure and reach a 65˚C water flow temperature for the ultimate high performing unit.

Installer Danny Wakeman, Operations Director and Lead Installer at CG Plumbing added, “We worked with Panasonic and Roland Gurner on the design of the system for this development. We have worked very closely with the team at Oceanair and Panasonic who have been able to meet our needs and guarantee stock levels through some very uncertain times, we have had no shortfall for our projects. Panasonic was also chosen for this project because of the usability for the end user and from an installer perspective for the electricians as well as us. Main benefits included the Aquarea’s high SCOP figures at the design temperature, resulting in low running cost for the homeowner, plus of course the outdoor unit housing a lot of the components which are usually based in the airing cupboard within a property.”

Gary Finn, Area Manager for Heat Pumps for Panasonic commented, “The Panasonic Mono-bloc is specially designed for low consumption homes, ideal for new residential properties, with a wide range of models and sizes to suit all different heat loads and requirements. In some cases, the units are 500% efficient, the lower the flow temperature, the higher the efficiency.”

The Panasonic Aquarea Mono-bloc is extremely energy efficient, boasting A+++ efficiency and is one of the quietest heat pumps currently on the market, plus offers a superb and sustainable alternative to traditional boilers with zero emissions at point of use and a lower carbon cost than mains gas, oil, LPG and direct electric.

The development at West End Gardens has a wide variety of residents, from elderly to young couples with families. Most residents are new to renewable technology and heat pumps in general. The team at Oceanair, Panasonic and CG Plumbing have therefore helped residents to move from a gas boiler system to heat pump technology by providing an aftersales package including helpful videos covering how a heat pump works, its controls, and helping them understand the system temperatures.

Danny added, “We pride ourselves on design and education for our staff and end users. We are hugely passionate about the air to water market and the development of green energy. We are finding that the market is strong and the development and insulation of air to water is key for the economy and a greener planet. We have put a lot of time and effort into training our staff and ourselves in the industry. We have been working closely with Oceanair and recently installed product at their new training centre in Mansfield, a Panasonic led training and development centre. We find that the market is only going one way and now is the time that its best to push towards excellence.”

For more information on Panasonic air source heat pumps, please visit www.aircon.panasonic.eu