Development at Ashton Rise to benefit from ground source heat pumps

A new housing scheme in Bristol is to feature ground source heat pumps as part of a programme to save 30 tonnes of carbon over the homes’ lifetime, compared with using individual gas boilers.

Borehole drill rig for the Kensa heat pumps at Ashton Rise, Bristol

Bristol city council’s Ashton Rise development of 133 homes, built using the SIG I-House offsite system, will all be heated by a system developed and currently being installed (pictured) by Kensa Contracting which uses ground source heat pumps connected to a series of boreholes.

The 113-home scheme, being developed by Wilmott Dixon, will feature a number for private sale units which will help finance around 50 affordable homes as part of the council’s pledge to deliver 800 affordable homes by 2020 as part of a target of 2,000 new units.

The Ashton Rise homes will be a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom houses, and one and two-bedroom apartments.

David Broom, Kensa’s commercial director, said Bristol’s move to a low-carbon alternative six years before a government deadline ruled out the use of fossil fuel systems in new-build homes “should be viewed as the new benchmark”.

“Bristol’s plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 are ambitious, yet by adopting the low-carbon and low-cost approach used at Ashton Rise, we wholly expect the city to make huge strides to achieving its objective,” Broom added.

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