AT last night's (Wednesday, 12 June) Business Green awards in London, Kensa's multi-award-winning retrofit project for Thurrock Council, which saw Networked Heat Pumps installed in 273 high-rise social housing flats in Chadwell St Mary, bagged another accolade by securing the Business Green Renewable Energy Project of the Year. 

It's the second award associated with the project.

Last year Thurrock Nub News reported on the scheme's success at the South East Energy Efficiency Awards.

Part-funded by Wave 1 of the Government's Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), the flagship project, delivered by Kensa Contracting and Thurrock Council, saw ageing electric storage heaters across three tower blocks replaced with highly efficient, low-carbon networked ground source heat pumps.

Since completion, the project has lowered some residents' energy bills by as much as 66%. Replacing electric storage heaters, which cost some residents thousands of pounds a year to run, with Kensa's compact Shoebox heat pumps is also expected to reduce carbon emissions by 70%.

A big fan of the new system is flats resident Diane Barr who said: "The heat pump is much warmer, and the hot water is so fast compared to the old system. Plus it's so cheap – I pay around £21 a week, and that's with doing the washing, using the tumble-drier and dehumidifier. With the storage heaters, it cost around £70 a week, and I only used to have the heating on in three rooms, and the hot water ran out pretty quickly, so we couldn't have a shower."

After receiving the award, Sustainability Director at Kensa Contracting, Leman Barmaki, said: "It's brilliant for this project to receive the Business Green Renewable Energy Project of the Year award. We're incredibly proud of this installation; it's made a huge improvement to people's lives, it's lowered energy bills and given residents a heating system they can afford to use.

"Networked heat pumps present an ideal solution to decarbonise complex properties like high-rise tower blocks. We've delivered this renewable heating system to over 1,700 high-rise social housing flats, giving long-lasting benefits for the housing providers, the residents, the community and the environment."

Also see: https://thurrock.nub.news/news/local-news/heating-firm-provides-new-community-area-at-chadwell-flats-175264