The Bug Parc Goes Green: New Ground Source Heat Pump Keeps Creepy Crawlies Cozy Year-Round!

The Bug Parc is a ‘zoo’ in Norfolk – home to more species of bugs than pretty much anywhere in the world.

The rare species of animals require their living environment to be heated to 25-30‘C all year round.

At the zoo, there are a number of different buildings housing the animals, but also the cafe, offices and ticket area – all of which needed heating year round.

The Expert Solution

We designed and installed a ground source heat pump that could provide the critical heating temperatures for the bugs AND provide spare capacity for future expansion.

We specified and installed a pair of 40kW ground source heat pumps, linked to over 2000m of horizontal ground collector.

This project was delivered during the ‘Construction Phase’ of The Bug Parc – to help minimise disruption we built a containerised plant room at Finn Geotherm HQ. Then once the construction team were ready, we worked closely with them to arrange the delivery of the packaged plant room to site.

This was then lifted onto a pre-constructed concrete pad – meaning only a few days were required on site to deliver the project.

The finished heat pump system installed is a miniature ‘Heat Network’ – as heat is transferred from the central plant room to a variety of different buildings via highly-insulated underground pipework.

Within each of the buildings on-site we also designed and installed the heating distribution – involving the use of high-level fan coil units (or simply warm air blowers).

The Result

We were able to deliver consistent and effective heating to the entire ‘zoo’, with minimal disruption, future proofing and with a relatively low installation cost.

The Bug Parc also benefited from the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive programme, providing generous quarterly payments for 20 years after the date of commissioning.

The project has been so successful, The Bug Parc is now expanding to include a ‘Butterfly Zone’ which will be housed in a large Polytunnel and heated through the ground source heat pump system.

The site does not have access to mains gas, and therefore the only alternative would have been oil or LPG. The estimated CO2 emissions savings to date is approx. 65Tonnes. This is the equivalent of removing 58 flights from London to New York.

The Feedback – Martin French, Owner of The Bug Parc

“Long term it’s a massive saving on money with the grant system – allowing us to enjoy savings for 20 years. On that basis, it’s been a cheaper heating alternative for us.

The system maintains the heat as we’ve expected it to, it’s worked well. There are a lot of big buildings here, the heating is on 24/7, so it’s working hard.”

“And now we’re adding to it with our butterfly park as well, and the reason we’re adding to it, is because it’s worked so successfully.”