In this blog series we look at just how easy it is for property developers to incorporate heat pumps into their latest housing developments. We will follow a live project for 5 plots in Yorkshire with one of our regular developer customers, and describe each stage of the journey, highlighting how Alto Energy can bring value and convenience to your project.
Step 2: Technical Sign Off
Once a customer has decided to proceed with heat pumps, we need to make sure that the project is designed properly and fully MCS compliant. To do this, every single project we do is thoroughly reviewed by our Technical Director and Compliance Officer, to ensure that all the benefits of heat pumps are realised.
Alto Energy’s technical sign off process in action for plot 1 of the 5 plots!
The Benefits of MCS
The benefit of proceeding with Alto Energy is that we are MCS accredited and an approved Business Solutions Partner (BSP) with Mitsubishi. This means that:
You get an uplift in your SAP / Building Regulations calculations by virtue of having a heat pump from an MCS installer
NHBC and LABC warranties only formally accept heat pumps if they are installed by an MCS accredited installer
The products quoted are on the SAP Product Characteristics Database, meaning they get to use higher efficiencies in the calculations
We issue a Building Control certificate specifically for the heat pump installation, which is needed for the building inspector
We provide all the relevant warranties directly to the homeowner
You get a 5 year warranty on the heat pump, something only BSPs can offer (standard is 2 or 3 years)
PEACE OF MIND
By handling all of the design aspects of the project, we take the stress away from developers who are looking to make the forward-thinking move to heat pump technology for their projects. By working with Alto Energy, you can be certain that the heat pumps will be designed to perform properly, meaning that the homeowners we be purchasing a modern heating system that caters for all of their heating and hot water requirements.
CONTACT US TODAY
Technical sign off process
Our technical sign off process ensures that every heat pump we sell is designed to operate correctly. Our full process is as follows:
Room by room heat loss - our design engineers carry out a complete room-by-room heat loss calculation in accordance with the MCS standard MIS3005. This enables us to produce a radiator and underfloor heating schedule, so you know exactly what distribution each room of the house requires.
Technical Director review - our Technical Director personally reviews every single design. A design report and performance estimate is then produced and put together in a pack with detailed mechanical and electrical schematics, so you know exactly what is getting installed in each property.
On this project in Yorkshire, each plot has been specified and quoted with an 11kW Mitsubishi Ecodan air source heat pump. This heat pump cover 100% of the heating and domestic hot water requirements for each property.
The technical sign off pack we issue to you contains comprehensive information about the proposed heat pump for your project.
Heat pump design report - explaining how the heat pump will perform
Schematic - showing how the heat pumps are going to be installed
Installation manuals - manufacturer documentation about how to install the heat pumps
Working with your site trades people
Alto Energy’s unique business model has been designed to work alongside house builders and self builders. We work alongside your on-site trades people, and offer free training and telephone technical support for them to carry out the physical installation. This work will be carried out under subcontract to us, which in combination with our own employed engineers carrying out the physical commissioning, ensures that we offer comprehensive guarantees and warranties on the heat pump system once it has been signed off.
Warranty
Alto Energy can offer a minimum of a 5 year warranty on all air source and ground source heat pumps we supply. Our IVT Bosch Thermotechnology range of heat pumps come with a 5 year warranty as standard. Furthermore, as a Business Solutions Partner with Mitsubishi means we can offer a 5 year warranty as standard, which is up to three years more than the typical Mitsubishi warranty from other suppliers!
This allows added peace of mind for you, and your customers purchasing the property.
Next Steps
Once we have provided our quotation, the next step is what we refer to as Technical Sign Off. As part of the technical sign off process, we verify the heat pump design as well as providing a complete underfloor heating and radiator schedule, to ensure the heating distribution system in the property is adequately sized. You can read more about this in the next blog in this series.
Our Experience
At Alto Energy we have huge and demonstrable experience working with a number of house builders throughout the country. See below just a few other developments where we have designed and supplied heat pump systems:
19x air source heat pumps on a development of 3 & 4 bed homes in Worcestershire
6x ground source heat pumps and underfloor heating on a barn-conversion development in Oxfordshire
17x air source heat pumps and underfloor heating on a development of 2 – 5 bed homes in Warwickshire
14x air source heat pumps on a development of flats in North London
7x air source heat pumps on a development of off-plan builds in Cheshire
4x air source heat pumps on a development of new builds in Cornwall
5x air source heat pumps for 2 separate new build developments in Warwickshire
