Having enjoyed a long-standing relationship working with Hill spanning several years, Vaillant was keen to support the worthwhile cause and, as part of the Vaillant Standard specification process, provided expert design services for Hill’s SoloHaus development in South Tottenham, London. The award-winning scheme is a joint venture between Haringey Council and The Hill Group, providing 36 SoloHaus homes to support localised homeless initiatives.
Project Type
Property Type:
Offsite converted shipping container units
Requirement:
A uniform, high efficiency heating and hot water solution with easy replication across multiple sites
Project background:
Sustainable and efficient units for 36 vulnerable people, fit for the future
Technology:
6 x aroTHERM 11kW
6 x 300 litre uniSTOR heat pump cylinder
6 x Appliance interface unit
Client:
The Hills Group
It was decided in the early stages of the Foundation 200 project that energy efficiency would be the primary goal when designing the new development in Haringey. This would help drive down carbon emissions and ensure energy bills were economical.
The 24 square metre SoloHaus homes are manufactured and constructed off-site by Hill’s business partner Volumetric Modular Ltd and can be easily transported to the chosen site for the development. Each SoloHaus sits on six foundation pads to minimise groundworks, with minimal connections required to provide electricity, water, and transport waste.
As part of the Vaillant Standard, which encompasses the end-to-end support offered by the business to specifiers, Vaillant’s dedicated design services team created a bespoke heating system design, including fully indemnified heat loss calculations, for the Haringey development, which would utilise Vaillant’s aroTHERM air source heat pumps.
Working closely with Hills on the sizing requirements, it was established that just one 11kW aroTHERM heat pump would sufficiently fulfil the heating and hot water requirements of six SoloHaus homes, and therefore a total of six heat pumps would be required for the entire development.
Vaillant provided the developers with its expert design services, to help with the heat loss calculations and heating system design of the SoloHaus development, and to ensure the project met heat pump best practice.
The solution
Based on Vaillant’s recommendation, six, bespoke mini plant rooms were designed and built in a discreet location at the back of the development. Each plant room is able to house a 300 litre uniSTOR heat pump cylinder whilst an 11kW aroTHERM air source heat pump is located outside. Collectively, this provides the heating and hot water requirements for all 36 of the SoloHaus homes. With each of the properties’ heating and hot water needs provided by Vaillant’s aroTHERM heat pumps, together with a high standard of insulation, the energy efficient SoloHaus already meets the Future Homes Standard ahead of its introduction in 2025.
To further support the project, Vaillant’s sensoCOMFORT control was also specified and installed in each of the plant rooms so that the heat pumps could be adjusted, checked and repaired from a central location. The sensoCOMFORT control takes care of the aroTHERM heat pumps automatically by intelligently communicating with the heating system, via a single, easy-to-use interface.
In addition, each SoloHaus home was fitted with simplified controls inside the dwellings which the residents can operate easily with minimal instructions. The installation of these controls has also allowed Haringey Council to easily transfer the ongoing maintenance of the development to their own housing officers and maintenance teams.
For the new tenants, this efficient use of design together with energy efficiency measures means that the energy bills for each SoloHaus are well below that of a conventional home.
Looking ahead
Tom Hill, Regional Director at The Hill Group comments: “The Hill Group is committed to reaching net zero carbon in our business operations and in the homes we build. We see no reason to wait for the legislation to come into effect in 2025, and are pleased to have the design, tools, and technical expertise to build to the new standards today.
“We’re already seeing the positive impact these homes are having on people’s lives and look forward to delivering SoloHaus developments in other areas across the UK.”