Every home at Edmonstone Village will be connected to a single dedicated energy centre on site cutting 294 tonnes of carbon a year and giving residents a heating tariff that follows UK energy indices rather than global gas prices.
The 709 homes being built at Edmonstone Village in south-east Edinburgh will not have a gas boiler. Instead, every property will be connected to a single dedicated energy centre on site, a purpose-built facility that generates heat locally using industrial-sized air source heat pumps and pipes it directly to each home. Vital Community Energi, the consumer energy brand within the Vital Energi group will own and run the system.
Think of it as a boiler for the whole village but one that belongs to a single accountable company rather than sitting in each home, needing annual servicing and replacement every decade or so. Residents won’t have a gas bill. They’ll pay for heat as a tariff reviewed annually against UK energy indices and will maintain a saving on the relative domestic air source heat pump comparator ensuring competitiveness with the equivalent domestic solution.
UK energy bills have risen sharply in recent years, largely because household costs track the price of gas on global markets, a price set by events as distant as conflicts in Eastern Europe or supply disruptions on the other side of the world. At Edmonstone, the energy centre uses air source heat pumps as its primary heat source. The heat is generated locally, and residents are less exposed to the volatility associated with conventional gas-linked heating. The scheme is also expected to save 294 tonnes of carbon annually compared with a conventionally heated development of equivalent size.
The system has also been built with resilience at its core. If the main heat pumps go offline, backup boilers take over automatically.
Residents manage their account through the Glass app, Vital Community Energi’s own customer platform, and have access to a 24/7 operation and maintenance team. The scheme operates to Heat Trust standards, which provide consumer protections and sit within the framework of Ofgem’s incoming regulation of heat networks across Great Britain.
Housebuilder Avant Homes, which has its Scotland regional head office in Edinburgh, is delivering an £87m, 312-home development within Edmonstone Village.
The permanent energy centre is expected to be operational by next May. Construction of the wider development is already under way, with 19 of the Avant Homes properties currently being supplied by a temporary energy centre on site.
Located off Old Dalkeith Road, Avant Homes’ Edmonstone Village development comprises a mix of two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom homes and features 12 of the housebuilder’s house styles.
Prices for the currently released homes for sale at Edmonstone Village range from £269,995 for a two-bedroom semi-detached Balfron house style to £486,995 for a five-bedroom detached Stirling.
Selected plots at the development are also available with a range of incentives including part exchange, £10,000 deposit contribution and £5,000 towards home upgrades.
For further information on the development search ‘Avant Homes Edmonstone Village’.
