Larkfleet has retrofitted a house with Green Deal and ECO measures to showcase the technologies and applications available through the Government's flagship scheme.
The demonstration three-bedroom house in Bourne, Lincolnshire has had 27 of the approved 45 Green Deal measures fitted. These include familiar measures such as cavity wall insulation, draught proofing and a gas condensing boiler, together with less common features such as solar water heating, solar photovoltaics and heat recovery, through to the more involved such as air and ground source heat pumps, and micro wind generation.
A privately owned construction and development group, Larkfleet Group has significant interests in housebuilding, housing, energy and renewables. It was one of the first to start energy efficiency retrofitting work, commencing schemes for 500 houses for a number of RSLs in February, and is increasing the offer to the private sector. Larkfleet is also the driving force for a wider area approach scheme in Peterborough for 4,000 properties.
Karl Hick, managing director of Larkfleet, felt that there was some detachment between what the Government was introducing and what the general public and the industry were expecting. He said: "We decided that a good way to raise awareness and improve that perception was through demonstration, and it was decided to retrofit an existing Code Four sustainability demonstration house for that purpose."
It was not practical to install all the measures due to the obvious duplication of outputs and space restrictions. Measures not installed included a biomass boiler, micro CHP, wastewater heat recovery and water-source heat pumps.
The primary heating for the house is provided by an air-source heat pump, with the gas-fired condensing boiler available as an alternative. The ground-source heat pump is installed but not connected, to demonstrate the space needed for the system.
Mr Hick continued: "The house has proved effective in educating the market about ECO and Green Deal, enabling Larkfleet to demonstrate the various technologies, what is involved in their installation, the space needed, and the impact upon the house. In particular, it has proved very useful to show potential clients the space, ideal locations and connections required for the various technologies, and the impact on living space.
"If the demonstration house helps with the adoption of these measures, and wider roll-out of ECO and Green Deal, then I think we will have succeeded."
