Eastwinds Eco Build, Yorkshire

Ground Source Review: Eastwinds

In 2014 Claire and Robert Hartley decided to build a brand new eco-home on family farm-land near Bingley in Yorkshire. They wanted to create a self-sufficient 21st century farmhouse using traditional materials including reclaimed stone from a demolished mill nearby.

The challenges of building in a rural location meant that the property was off the water and gas grids, with limited access to utilities. To overcome this, the Hartley’s drilled down to find their own water source and set up a filtration system which passes clean water directly into their house. They also installed solar pv to generate electricity; a Kensa ground source heat pump to provide heating and hot water; and a solar thermal system to supply pre-heated hot water, making them all but self-sufficient.

Extra insulation measures such as triple glazed windows were installed to keep the building warm and this, coupled with an under-floor heating system, provided the perfect setting for a ground source heat pump. The Hartley’s used experienced installer Yorkshire Renewable Systems Ltd to install their solar thermal panels and the ground source heat pump.

Phil Harris from Yorkshire Renewable Systems said: “With the property being off-gas and under-floor heating specified throughout, a ground source heat pump was the obvious choice for a sustainable heating system. Kensa has a proven track record within our company so we didn’t hesitate in recommending them to our client.”

With considerable land and farm buildings available around the site, the ground source heat pump uses 50m slinky coils buried in trenches in an adjoining field to extract renewable heat energy from the ground. The ground works took just two days, including the excavation and back-filling of the trenches, and the heat pump took around a week to install.

The groundworks for the heat pump took place in September and the ground source heat pump itself was installed once the plumbing and electrics were done in December. This triggered quarterly payments for the Hartley’s on the renewable heat generated by the ground source heat pump through the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI: this scheme has now closed – please visit this page to explore other funding).

The build took nine months and went smoothly.

The family were filmed for More4’s Building the Dream programme, which aired on 14^th April 2015. You can watch their story on catch up here: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/building-the-dream.

Ground Source Review: Eastwinds internals - Under-floor heating system

Ground Source Review: Eastwinds slinky trenches

Ground Source Review: Eastwinds - 4 x 50m slinky coils buried in trenches