Kingston Heights, a pioneering mixed-used development near Kingston-upon-Thames’ town centre has won the prestigious Best Green Scheme award at a national housing awards ceremony. The awards ceremony organised by 24 Housing magazine took place in Birmingham and was attended by Shadow Housing Minister Emma Reynolds.
Kingston Heights was built by United House and NHP Leisure Development and is a £70m mixed-use scheme situated near the Thames and features the first Open Water Heat Pump system in the UK. The unique system uses river water to provide heat, hot water and cooling for the 137 apartments, a mix of private and affordable homes and a 142-bedroom hotel. The development will save over 500 tonnes of CO2 being emitted into the environment and is expected to reduce household energy bills by around 16% per annum.
The Open Water Heat Pump system works by recovering the solar energy stored naturally in the river water to provide the thermal energy for the development. The process is environmentally friendly, producing no negative impact on the environment or river ecology. The scheme, which utilises Mitsubishi Electric’s advanced heat pump technology, produces zero on-site carbon emissions, in contrast to the estimated 500 tonnes of CO2 that would otherwise be emitted by a combustion-based system.
Managing Director of NHP Leisure Developments, Mike Spenser-Morris, who was the driving force behind the Open Water Heat Pump system, said:
“We are delighted to win another award for Kingston Heights. We do hope that other developments follow suit and harness the vast store of untapped solar energy in every open body of water to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency.”
Stuart Laird, Managing Director of United House said:
“Kingston Heights is an outstanding example of our technical skills and we are very proud to receive this award.”
By David Mote, Editor