RPS Group & or Manchester City Council (MCC) have won an award for Residential Heat Pump Project of the Year and were praised by the expert judging panel, who are drawn from across the HVAC sector.

The project involved undertaking a total Heating Services Renovation to Liverton Court, a block of 70 flats managed by MCC.

As part of the Homes as Energy Systems (HAES) project, Manchester City Council, replaced an existing inefficient gas communal heating system with a shared loop GSHP (SLGSHP) system that has resulted in lower carbon emissions and potential reduced heating costs for both residents and Manchester City Council – and improved the comfort of residents in their homes.

The HAES project is delivering an estimated 1,000 low carbon interventions in social housing across Greater Manchester and it’s part funded by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) through the 2014-2020 England Operational Programme. Working together with Procure Plus as the lead partner, with the University of Salford, Kraken Flex and Stockport Housing Group as strategic delivery partners, HAES aims to bring down the cost of retrofit and low carbon interventions in the sector, supporting the aims of Greater Manchester’s Sustainable Urban Development Scheme.

The judges praised RPS Group, a Greater Manchester company, as a family business that has embraced the challenges posed by delivering lower carbon heat to provide heat pumps at scale. They also noted the positive reception by the residents to the project too.

Graham Rothwell, CEO, RPS Group, said “We are delighted the project has gained the national recognition it deserves. The project was complex, and the outcomes are impressive. The success of Liverton Court has no doubt been because of the close collaboration and partnership working of all involved in the scheme.”

The H&V News Awards, run by B2B publisher emap, are amongst the most sought-after accolades in the HVAC sector, with its judging process including a ‘Dragons’ Den’ face-to-face round. Andrew Gaved, Editor of H&V News magazine said:

“The HVAC industry has an increasingly vital role to play in our society – it is helping to protect people by improving Indoor Air Quality and it is helping to protect the planet by decarbonising heating. Our winners tonight show an industry demonstrating innovation, best practice, resilience and responsiveness and they all deserve to feel very proud.”

Councillor Martyn Cox, GMCA lead for the Green City Region, Waste and Recycling, said: “In Greater Manchester, we’re serious about making the changes needed to reach our target of becoming a carbon neutral city region by 2038 and for our region to be a greener and fairer place for everyone.

“Reaching that target will require meaningful change from all of us. The decarbonisation of social housing is an important step in ensuring the buildings of Greater Manchester are producing as little carbon as possible, alongside improving energy performance for the good of residents across the city-region. The work carried out at Liverton Court is an excellent example of what can be achieved, so I’m delighted to see it get the recognition it deserves.”

Greater Manchester Sustainable Urban Development Scheme is one of many initiatives helping to deliver the goals of Greater Manchester’s Five-Year Environment Plan. Find out more about the plan on the GMCA website.

Cllr Gavin White, Manchester City Council’s executive member for housing and development, said: “There are around 70,000 social homes in Manchester and so delivering the city’s low carbon retrofit programme is a significant challenge, but one we must meet head on if we are serious about meeting the city’s target of becoming a net zero carbon city by 2038.

“Projects like Liverton Court highlight the ambition we have to create warm, sustainable and crucially, cheap to run homes for our residents – vital in the current cost-of-living crisis. It’s great that the project has been acknowledged as an exemplar nationally and will act as a blueprint guide for our ongoing retrofit works in the future.”

Mark Holt, HaES Project Lead, Procure Plus, said “ As part of the Homes as Energy Systems (HAES) project, the scheme has provided a low carbon solution for an occupied deck access block replacing an inefficient gas communal heating system. This retrofit scheme overcame several site layout and ground condition challenges, undertaken during the Covid pandemic retaining high levels of customer satisfaction and participation.

Over the past 12 months data from the Uplink monitoring system has been analysed to understand the impact of the new Ground Source Heat Pump scheme on energy usage with ongoing data monitoring and interactions with residents on their usage. This scheme is a great achievement for the project team with ongoing data collection from alternative heating systems and endorse of our work towards a Zero Carbon target.”

Contact Details: Sarah Rothwell, Bid Manager – Sarah@rothwellgroup.co.uk – 0774863418. Additional photos available upon request.