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Southwark Council is striving to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and as part of its plan it is decarbonising the existing gas powered heat networks across three large council estates. The heat pump projects will see 2,175 residents at Consort, Newington and Wyndham benefit from a resilient, reliable heat energy supply, along with improved local air quality and reduced carbon emissions. The project involves 5 water source heat pumps being retrofitted into the existing gas fuelled network, utilising water from the aquifers sat below the ground through constructed boreholes.
Bespoke heat pumps were designed to fit into the three existing congested energy centres. To do this we captured the measurements by laser scanning every plant room. The hi-tech software then turns the scan into a complete and photorealistic 3D image. This allowed us to design the equipment and its placement within the energy centre with extreme accuracy and speed.
We integrated the heat pumps into legacy high temperature district heating network systems. Heat is taken from locally drilled 120m deep boreholes, from aquifers where the water is naturally warmer, and then run through the open loop supplied heat pumps to further increase temperature, before it is fed into a heat network and pumped out to residents. This is an extremely efficient and reliable way of producing heat. As the ground water is circulated through the heat pumps, the use of evaporators and condensers ensures heat is produced at the required temperature, which is then fed into the existing heat networks. By also making pipework modifications in each of the central plant rooms, the heat pumps were installed and connected into the existing heat network distribution pipework, alongside the existing boilers, which will no longer become the lead source.