introduction
One Vision Housing (OVH) is a Social Housing Provider determined to make a big difference in their communities. Formed in the autumn of 2006 to take over the ownership and management of Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council's homes they currently manage almost 11,700 stretching along the Merseyside coast from Southport in the north, Bootle in the south, Crosby in the west, to Maghull in the east. They are working towards achieving the 'Cleaner Safer Greener' Quality Mark and as part of the decent homes schedule OVH are making thousands of homes more energy efficient through new UPVC doors, double glazing windows, high-efficiency boilers and central heating systems.
challenge
The OVH housing stock includes numerous sites with communal heating plant. Improving the efficiency of this plant is a significant contribution not only to cost saving but also to OVH's commitment to achieving the 'Cleaner Safer Greener' Quality Mark.
solution
OVH identified which of their properties had communal heating. We commenced a programme to survey each of the properties. The survey identified un-insulated valves, flanges, pipework and other hot elements in the heating plant and an Energy Savings Report was produced. The report identified how much energy could be saved for each site by fitting the SmartHeat insulation.
outcome
Over the past year our SmartHeat project has provided supplementary insulation to the OVH sheltered housing stock with communal heating plant. Several sites were insulated saving an estimated £10,000 in fuel costs and 75 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
To date we have completed the insulation of over 5,600 boiler rooms in social housing throughout the country. The service is provided at no cost to the Social Housing Provider, is funded through the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) provision and is fully project managed by us. Whilst heating pipes in boiler rooms are gererally well insulated, the valves are not. SmartHeat provides removeable insulation jackets for these components greatly reducing the wasted heat disipated.
