CASE STUDY: GREAT HOMES LTD
Keeping life green in the rural market town of Braintree, Essex A total of 29 state of the art Giacomini Heat Interface Units have been installed for the Award-Winning retirement, family and commercial development company, Great Homes Limited, at their latest environmentally-friendly retirement project, High Elms, in the historic Essex market town of Braintree. Great Homes Limited has been behind some of the most innovative retirement, family and commercial developments in the region, and as such has an absolute commitment to excellence at every stage of the conceptual design, construction and aftercare process. As a responsible developer, it uses the finest environmentally-friendly materials and ensures its developments blend sympathetically with their surroundings. The company engages the skills of respected crafts and tradesmen and women at every stage, and for these reasons it was obvious that Giacomini UK was the perfect match to bring the expertise and quality in Heating that the project required.
MODEL INSTALLED: G2: GE556Y137 GE556 series is composed of heat interface units for heating and hot water production applications; they are fed via a communal boiler or as part of a district heating system. The current version uses a configuration with two heat exchangers running in parallel. This has two principal advantages: parallel and non-intermittent handling of the sanitary hot water and heating functions (no need for hot water priority) and the higher safety benefits of a sealed system; in the event of leak in an apartment, this is limited to the secondary circuit and there is no emptying of the centralised system. The adopted configuration is an innovative variant, using thermostatic actuators and is particularly practical and reliable. Key features:
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Great Homes design not only be beautiful, GIACOMINI but to be easy and cost effective to maintain HYDROGEN BOILER and so helping to keep the annual maintenance charge for residents as low as possible. Margaret Jenn, Great Homes Resident.
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● Versions GE556Y137 and Y138: painted (RAL9010) steelcabinet, for wall mounted installation, with key lock. ● Dimensions: 44.4 x 63.0 x 19.5 cm (L x H x D) (GE556Y135-Y136) 45.0 x 63.0 x 20.0 cm (L x H x D) (GE556Y137-Y138) ● Double heat exchanger configuration in parallel: the sanitary hot water and heating functions operate in parallel (with by-pass balancing). ● Heating handling with controlled temperature (radiators and radiant floor applications). ● Spacer for the meters. ● Circulator 15/50 for heating, with expansion vessel, safetyvalve and filling circuit with backflow preventer. ● 3/4” Connections. ● WRAS certified components for the sanitary circuit. GIACOMINI HAS CONTINUED TO DEVELOP AND IMPROVE THEIR HIU’s RANGE SINCE THE COMPLETITON OF THE HIGH ELMS DEVELOPMENT AND NEWER MODELS ARE NOW AVALIABLE IN THE G3 & G4 ECO SERIES.
CASE STUDY: GREAT HOMES LTD THE MAIN AIM
for the project was to offer both luxurious and environmentally-friendly apartments, that had been developed and built to comply with the Code for Sustainable Homes, a government standard that encourages maximum energy and resource efficiency – the added benefit being low overheads for residents. Giacomini Heat Interface Units offered an ideal solution to this, as being both a high quality product and built to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. With no need
for a gas supply, flues, or hot water cylinders, heat interface units from Giacomini provides all the benefits of a combi boiler without the combustion. Compact in size and simple to install, this versatile unit controls and measures hot water and heating usage in apartments supplied from a communal boiler system. It delivers major benefits to everyone concerned, from the building contractor and installer to the tenants and landlords.
Advantages for Great Homes Limited:
Advantages for the High Elms management team:
Simplicity of installation – no gas supply, no flues and no cylinders. Jig Bracket, Valves, Y Strainer and WRAS approved Filling Loop supplied as standard. Saves space – no hot water cylinder required. Lower servicing costs.
Through remote monitoring, Giacomini heat interface units provide the landlord with comprehensive data for analysis with a consequent major energy saving opportunity. Possibility of central conversion to other kinds of fuel, without major cost implications for satellite units. Adaptable for remote heating control. More secure and less intrusive, through centralised data collection. Maintenance costs shared across all residents.
Advantages for the residents: The tenant is aware that bills are linked directly to personal consumption. Optional energy metering display allows tenants to see how much energy is being consumed and to individually adapt to changing circumstances. Greater efficiencies for individual users lowers both costs and emissions.
Great Homes Limited has been recognised for its innovation, outstanding build quality and customer care in the Archant Property Awards 2010, and in the Daily Mail Property Awards.
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The use of our HIU’s on this development has provided a number of benefits for both great homes and the residents, in particular, the use of the energy meter has enabled accurate billing for each flat , read remotely via M-BUS link, the meters have enabled the residents to significantly lower their own energy costs.
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Alan Sanders, Technical Director Giacomini UK.
Giacomini U.K. Ltd, Unit 2 Goodrich Close, Westerleigh Business Park, Yate, South Gloucestershire, BS37 5YT
Tel: 01454 311012 Fax: 01454 316345 Email: enquiries@giacomini.co.uk Web: www.giacomini.co.uk