Taylor Wimpey heats up in Wetherby

The housebuilder is planning to install a zero-carbon network at its 762-home Swinnow Park development to supply heat and hot water to all the properties.

The communal heating facility has been designed and developed by GTC to provide a sustainable heat network solution specifically for new-builds.

GTC’s sister company Metropolitan will operate the system and provide customer service to the homes once installed.

It will be the first time Taylor Wimpey has used the technology in Yorkshire and only the second time throughout the country, with the other being in Sudbury, Suffolk.

The community heat hub creates heat using large air source heat pumps, delivered to homes through a network of highly insulated pipes.

Each home has a Heat Interface Unit that delivers heat to the radiators, provides hot water, and has a smart meter and thermostat.

Located off Racecourse Approach, the estate will be made up of two- to five-bedroom homes, all of which will be connected to the heat network with no gas on site.

Lucinda Dickens, sales and marketing director at Taylor Wimpey Yorkshire, said: “As housebuilders, it’s important for us to embrace other forms of heating as part of the UK Government’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

“We have already launched our region’s first development with no gas at Morwick Springs, in Leeds, where each home has an air source heat pump.

“Now Swinnow Park offers customers an innovative, efficient solution to providing heat and hot water. A single, large air source heat pump delivers heat to homes through individual heat interface units – no need for a gas boiler.”

Andrew White, managing director, for Metropolitan, said: “We own the heat network and community heat hub and we provide low-carbon heat to all homes and businesses on the network.

“We are responsible for ensuring it’s safe, reliable and efficient. It means, as part of their heat bill, homeowners are provided with a hassle-free, all-inclusive service that covers the maintenance and HIU replacement, so there are no surprising bills.”