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Renewable heating for Anglo-Saxon visitor attraction

A historic Anglo-Saxon site and visitor centre near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, has cut its carbon emissions by 70 per cent, thanks to a heat pump system.

West Stow is the site of an early Anglo[1]Saxon village, occupied from AD 420-650, over 400 years before the Norman Conquest. The reconstructed Anglo-Saxon village attracts visitors from schools, tourists and locals throughout the year. It is surrounded by West Stow Country Park, a 125 acre site featuring trails, heath and woodland.

West Stow’s visitor centre and the country park café had previously been heated by an oil-fired boiler, which was inefficient and expensive. With West Suffolk Council committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030, a more environmentally friendly and effective solution was needed.

Finn Geotherm specified and installed two Lämpöässä Eli 60 ground source heat pumps, to provide all the heating and hot water for the visitor centre, museum and café. Heat is collected from the ground using bore holes – Finn Geotherm installed 14 boreholes, each one 147m deep, near the village’s collections building. The boreholes, created in a ‘closed loop system’, feed the heat pumps which are situated in a purpose-built plant room adjacent to the village’s museum. The system is also designed to provide passive cooling, using the ground’s temperature to maintain a comfortable environment in summer and provide exact temperature control within the facility’s museum precious artefact centre.

By installing this renewable energy heating system, West Stow has cut its energy use by 70 per cent, making a significant impact on carbon emissions and heating bills, as well as delivering a much more sustainable system, which will last three times longer than a conventional boiler.

The installation also qualifies for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), a government scheme which assists with the project’s capital cost by providing quarterly payments for 20 years.

The installation has been shortlisted in The Energy Awards 2021.

www.finn-geotherm.co.uk

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