Underfloor heating pipes are being laid in Bath Abbey as part of an innovative thermal heating system to heat the Abbey and adjacent buildings using Bath's famous hot springs. An ambitious project is under way to replace Bath Abbey's 150-year-old heating system with low-energy underfloor heating, using heat recovered from hot springs rising in the nearby Roman Baths. BuroHappold Engineering's Neil Francis describes the challenges encountered at the Unesco World Heritage city site.
Bath Abbey restoration is part of the Heritage Lottery funded 'Footprint project', which highlighted a need to update the antiquated and inefficient heating system, to a new eco-friendly heating system. Using a unique combination of Bath's famous thermal springs, underfloor heating and ground source heat pumps, this project is one of the world's first hot spring heating systems. What.
Overview The groundwater source heat pump system at Bath Abbey is powered by Bath's famous hot spring waters. As part of the Abbey's Footprint project, a new distribution of underfloor heating pipework was laid in the Abbey and a plant room dedicated to the associated mechanical and electrical equipment was fitted by a team of contractors that included Emery, Wheelers and isoenergy. The abbey's Victorian heating system is sadly outdated, inefficient and expensive to maintain.
This combined with the work we're doing as part of our Footprint project to repair the abbey's collapsing floor makes this the ideal time for us to install a new underfloor heating system and is a truly exciting way of using Bath's most famous. The pipes under the Abbey floor were installed by underfloor heating specialist firm UFHN. A bespoke clip-to-mesh system was used to prevent damage to anything of archeological value, with manifolds set into the heating trenches for easy access and maintenance.
Bath Abbey's innovative eco-heating system powered by sustainable energy from Bath's famous hot spring waters is being switched on this week (w/c 8 March 2021) As part of the Abbey's Footprint project, a new distribution of underfloor heating pipework has been laid in the Abbey and a plant room dedicated to the associated mechanical and electrical equipment had been fitted by a team of. Works have now been undertaken as part of the Abbey's Footprint Project, a £19.3m initiative to conserve the Abbey's collapsing floor and incorporate pioneering energy efficiency measures such as underfloor heating generated from Bath's thermal springs. A 250kW to 350kW heat pump will ne used to raise the temperature of the extracted water to about 45C so it is warm enough to heat newly installed underfloor heating under the flagstones of the Abbey's floor.
A gas boiler will be installed as a backup and to support the heat pumps in the very coldest weather.
