Listed buildings
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Boiler upgrade for beauty spot
Upton House, situated in Upton Country Park in Poole, is a popular spot for visitors. With boilers dating back to the 1980s which had come to the end of their life, Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council, was searching for a replacement. At the same time, Hamworthy Heating wanted a test site for its new Upton boiler. The council and boiler manufacturer worked together to bring the heating plant for this Grade II listed building into the 21st Century
U
pton Country Park is a 140-acre site comprising of parkland, shoreline and formal estate gardens. The park, offering plenty of
activities indoors and outdoors, draws countless visitors to Poole each year. Amidst the green scenery lies Upton House, a Grade II* listed Georgian Mansion House which was built from 1816-1818 by Poole merchant Christopher Spurrier. Three Hamworthy UR430 atmospheric single
stage cast iron boilers that were delivering heating to the building had come to the end of their life and needed replacing.
A co-operative history
For the last nine years, Hampshire County Council Property Services has worked with council officers in Poole to consult on the design of mechanical services which includes heating systems. Mike Morris from BCP Council explains: “We have a limited maintenance budget, and the main thing we are concerned about first and foremost is keeping people warm and dry, so boilers and roofs form a big part of our maintenance programme. It is great we have the opportunity to work with Hampshire County Council Property Services who have been doing this for such a long time. The heating system designs are so well-developed, we feel protected, and it is a safety net for us.” As a local company with over 100 years of heritage in Poole, BCP Council also has a long working relationship with Hamworthy. Mike elaborates: “All our old boilers are
Hamworthy. Some of them must be up to 50 years old now and they’re still going. While we’re aware that we should replace these boilers due to efficiency, it’s not always possible with budget constraints. For a council, it is obviously great if we can buy equipment that lasts this long with the limited funds that are available to us.”
What needed refurbishing
The old Hamworthy cast iron boilers provided heat to the basement, ground and first floor. While BCP
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Council was looking for a replacement, Hamworthy was investigating a suitable test site for its new Upton boiler. Given the close co-operation between the manufacturer and the council as well as the fact that Upton House matched the name of Hamworthy’s new product, the site received the boiler free of charge. The chosen model UF400-2 delivers an output of
200kW per module (400kW combined) of which two are stacked on top of each other. As a modular boiler system, these are compact – even the biggest model in the range has a footprint of less than one square metre while delivering an output of 1MW – and can be taken apart for easier handling. Thanks to their compact size, the boiler modules could be transported down the stairs. Access like this usually complicates refurbishments, but the boiler was sited in the plant room without the need for bigger handling equipment. Mike adds: “I was really surprised. When I first saw
it, I thought it was one boiler. Then I realised it’s two modules, whereas before we had three big boilers.” Considerable research and development went into
the aluminium heat exchanger at the Upton’s core. A gross seasonal efficiency of up to 96.5% ensures the boiler delivers economical heating to Upton House. The built-in Siemens LMS controls system also
allows sequencing of up to 16 boiler modules which further helps improve efficiency and even use across the installation. Due to the Upton’s small size, there is now more
space in the plant room, making it easier to access equipment. This has been used for additional Hamworthy ancillaries to future-proof the equipment for maintenance. As the refurbishment was carried out in winter, a
temporary boiler was required to bridge the gap between the removal of the old and installation of the new boiler. It was placed outside the building with hoses also run externally. This all had to be co-ordinated with events using the function rooms downstairs and daily operations of the council offices on the first floor of Upton House in order to neither disturb visitors nor council workers.
The Grade II listed Upton House in Poole
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