Heat pump continues to deliver ROARR-some savings for Dinomite

Project Snapshot

Client: Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure
Sector: Leisure & Visitor Attraction
Building Type: Large indoor play and visitor services building
Project Scope: Heating and hot water system replacement
Funding Route: Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)
Our Role: Design and installation of ground source heat pump system
Technologies Used: Ground source heat pump, thermal store, radiators and warm air heaters

The Decarbonisation Challenge

Dinomite is Norfolk’s largest indoor play area, located at Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure Park in Lenwade. The three-storey building houses slides, bridges and ball pools, alongside a 200+ seat café and guest services for the wider park.

Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure is open 363 days a year, maintaining a comfortable internal temperature is essential for visitors and staff alike.

The building was previously heated by two LPG boilers which were expensive to run and increasingly overstretched. As energy costs rose, the owners wanted a more efficient, lower-carbon solution that could operate reliably year-round and significantly reduce running costs.

Key Delivery Considerations

From the outset, there were several key factors we needed to get right:

– A large, high-occupancy building open almost every day of the year
– A requirement for steady, consistent heating rather than intermittent use
– High internal heat demand due to size, volume and visitor numbers
– The need to reduce reliance on LPG and cut operating costs
– Minimal tolerance for downtime in a busy visitor attraction

Any solution needed to be robust, efficient and capable of maintaining comfort even in very cold weather.

Our Role

We worked closely with the Roarr! team to understand how the building was used and the demands placed on the heating system.

Our role was to design and install a system that could deliver reliable heating and hot water at scale, while also aligning with the park’s wider ambitions to reduce energy use and environmental impact.

The Solution

We specified and installed a Lämpöässä T120 ground source heat pump, supported by a 2,000-litre superheat thermal store.

The system is connected to approximately 6 km of horizontal ground collector loop installed beneath the main car park.

Heat is distributed throughout the building using a combination of Jaga Low Surface Temperature (LST) radiators and roof-mounted warm air heaters, ensuring even heat distribution across the multi-level space.

Delivery & Outcomes

The ground source heat pump now provides reliable, low-carbon heating for Dinomite all year round, even when external temperatures fall below freezing.

Key outcomes include:

– Heating costs reduced to less than half of previous LPG costs
– A consistently warm internal environment for visitors and staff
– Emissions reduced by approximately 50%
– Lower overall energy consumption
– A low-maintenance system proven over long-term operation

The installation also qualifies for the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, providing additional long-term financial benefit.

The Client’s Voice

Adam Goymour, Park Manager at Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure, said:

“We have been more than impressed with our ground source heat pump at Dinomite. The installation was completed in January 2013 and, five years on, it continues to deliver the same level of performance.

The system is very low maintenance and has made a considerable impact on both our costs and energy use.”