Ideal Heating secures major Logic Air heat pump contract in £7m social housing upgrade

From left, Jill Ross, Retrofit Advisor at Bernicia Group, Emma Searle, Retrofit Manager at Bernicia Group, Daniel Curran, Key Accounts Executive at Ideal Heating and Jason Oakes, Sales Director at 0800 Repair, outside a Bernicia Group property which has been fitted with a Logic Air heat pump.

HULL-based Ideal Heating’s heat pumps form part of a £7m retrofit upgrade investment by Bernicia Group and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The investment will mean hundreds of tenants will benefit from improvements to their homes to meet Government targets, including the installation of the heat pumps and solar panels, as well as better insulation.

It is part of a wider £80m project to upgrade more than 5,000 homes across the North East and Yorkshire under a Government programme to make homes more energy efficient.

The two-year contract is underway, with more than 20 heat pumps already installed. The project spans homes in areas including Durham, Sunderland, Gateshead and across Northumberland.

A total of 206 Logic Air heat pumps will be installed over the next 18 months, in Bernicia properties which do not currently achieve at least an energy SAP rating of C.

Installation of the heat pumps will not cost tenants anything, or affect their rent.

Mark Derbyshire, Managing Director (Domestic Products) at Groupe Atlantic UK, Republic of Ireland and North America, parent company of Ideal Heating, said: “We’re delighted our Logic Air heat pumps have been chosen to form part of this important programme of social housing works.

“Logic Air is perfect for social housing developments and upgrades, where infrastructure can be tailored to the requirements of heat pump installation. It is easy to install and service, and quiet to run.

“We’re very proud to be playing our part in making hundreds of homes in the North East more environment-friendly and energy efficient for tenants under this project.”

Logic Air is Ideal Heating’s first monobloc heat pump for the domestic market. It was launched last year as a major move by the company to support the drive to decarbonise UK homes.

Bernicia is one of the UK’s leading social housing organisations. It has awarded the retrofit contract to energy systems specialist PHS Home Solutions, with its customer facing brand 0800 Repair carrying out the works, following a competitive tender process.

Emma Searle, Bernicia’s Retrofit Manager, said: “This is great news for our tenants. It builds upon our continued investment in measures which improve the energy and environmental performance of our tenants’ homes, helping them to keep warmer while cutting their energy bills and reducing carbon emissions.

“Ideal were chosen as the preferred manufacturer for our project due to a combination of factors: the combined cylinder, the ergonomic programmer, length of warranty and value for money of the product.

“We have already installed a number of the heat pumps and our tenants are happy with the installation and the unit itself.”

“We’re committed to investing £70m into wider major improvement works in our homes and communities by 2026.”

The contract has been made possible thanks to the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 – designed to help landlords and social housing providers decarbonise their housing stock.

Jason Oakes, 0800 Repair’s Sales Director said: “We are immensely proud to be working with Bernicia to deliver this contract, improving people’s homes and making a real difference to the quality of their lives.

“As a local business, we take huge pride in being able to make people’s homes more energy efficient, keeping them warmer in their homes and giving them more money in their back pockets through cheaper bills.

“Some houses may have up to six or seven energy efficiency measures taken, others maybe two or three. We will be looking at the whole house and arriving at the best energy solution for that house.”

• For more about Ideal Heating’s work in the social housing sector, go to idealheating.com/social-housing