Raynham Hall chooses renewable energy

Project Snapshot

Client: Raynham Hall
Sector: Private Sector – Heritage / Estate
Building Type: Grade I listed 17th-century country house
Project Scope: Full heating and hot water system replacement
Our Role: Design and installation of ground source heat pump system
Technologies Used: Ground source heat pumps, thermal store and estate-wide ground loop

The Decarbonisation Challenge

Raynham Hall is a Grade I listed country house in Norfolk, built in 1621 and set within 5,000 acres of parkland. The Hall is home to Charles, 8th Marquess Townshend, and also hosts recitals, guided tours and events throughout the year.

The existing heating system was based around an oil-fired boiler originally installed in the 1950s. It was inefficient, expensive to run and increasingly unreliable. Annual heating costs had reached £36,000, and the system struggled to provide consistent heating and hot water across the 62-room property.

Over time, the system had been supplemented with additional pumps in an attempt to improve distribution, many of which worked against each other. Hot water was generated at the bottom of the building and stored at the top, often taking hours to reach bathrooms.

The brief was to deliver a modern heating solution that would dramatically reduce running costs, improve comfort and hot water availability, and do so without compromising the historic fabric of the Hall.

Key Delivery Considerations

From the outset, there were several critical factors to manage:

– A Grade I listed building with exceptional architectural and historic sensitivity
– A very large property with 62 rooms and 12 bathrooms
– Long-standing issues with heat distribution and hot water delivery
– The need to reduce high oil consumption and running costs
– Careful management of ground works within historic parkland

Any solution needed to be discreet, reliable and capable of delivering modern comfort in a 17th-century home.

Our Role

We carried out a detailed heat loss survey of all 62 rooms within the Hall to fully understand the building’s performance and heating requirements.

Working closely with the owners, and in consultation with Natural England and archaeologists, we designed a ground source heat pump system that could meet the full heating and hot water demand of the property while preserving the Hall’s architecture and setting.

Every aspect of the system was planned to integrate seamlessly with the building and improve day-to-day living.

The Solution

We specified and installed two Lämpöässä Eli 90 ground source heat pumps, supported by a 3,000-litre thermal store.

The system provides all space heating for the Hall, along with hot water for 12 bathrooms.

Heat is collected via approximately 10 kilometres of ground loop, installed beneath the estate grounds, including the former cricket pitch. The groundworks were carefully managed to protect the surrounding landscape and historic environment.

The new system replaced the old oil boiler entirely, simplifying the plant arrangement and delivering far more effective heat distribution and hot water availability throughout the building.

Delivery & Outcomes

Since commissioning, the system has delivered significant improvements in both performance and cost:

– Heating costs reduced by 64%
– Overall energy consumption reduced by 72.6%
– Consistent, comfortable heating across all rooms
– Reliable and responsive hot water throughout the Hall

For the first time in its long history, Raynham Hall is now properly and consistently heated, without reliance on fossil fuels.

The Client’s Voice

Lord Townshend, owner of Raynham Hall, said:

“The previous heating system was terrible. The results from the heat pump so far have been extraordinarily good. The house is now very comfortable.

Finn Geotherm wanted to deliver a heating system that would work with and enhance our everyday lives, and this does exactly that. You put up with a lot when you live in a large house, but there is no need to go without adequate heating and hot water. It’s a huge problem we’ve been living with which has simply disappeared.

This is the sort of larger period property that everyone tells you can’t be heated with a heat pump but our ground source system proves otherwise. I am delighted to be using modern technology to heat my 17th-century home.”

Recognition

This project won **HVAC Initiative of the Year** at the Heating & Ventilating Review (HVR) Awards 2019.

It was also a finalist in:
– The Energy Awards 2019
– CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2020
– National ACR & Heat Pump Awards 2020