When the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Headquarters at Slimbridge wanted to introduce a new energy-efficient heating system to its world-renown site (which also houses the 1950's family home of the late Sir Peter Scott) they gave the job to specialists in biomass technology, Aston Cord Energy Services Ltd.
Aston Cord in turn, had no hesitation in selecting Flexenergy for the highly insulated and flexible pipework needed for the biomass system.
As James Erskine, Assistant Facilities Manager at Slimbridge explains: "As part of a bigger strategy to reduce our carbon footprint, it was an easy decision for us to move away from a reliance on fossil fuels to renewable and sustainable biomass energy which will burn locally-supplied, wood-based pellets.
"Our headquarters is the largest of our nine sites nationally and we have over 150 staff located here. The new heating system will provide heat and hot water to all our core buildings - the main visitor centre, staff hostel, Scott House, the cottage and office buildings. With the help of the government-based Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, the pay-back for the new system will be in less than three and a half years. Due to the newly installed heating system we will save around 50% a year on our overall heating costs including this big reduction."
Phil Bailey, Installation Engineer at Aston Cord Energy Services Ltd said: "It was a no brainer for us to choose to use Flexenergy Flexalen piping as its insulation factor is phenomenal and it is undoubtedly the best in the country. The Flexalen 600 pre-insulated polybutene range has both strength and flexibility coupled with a broad temperature range and water-tight thermal insulation properties. It is very simple to install with easy connection between the insulation and casing pipe which makes it a fully welded system."
"We are very proud to be associated with such an energy efficient system on a world-renown site," said Sandy Fairley, Flexenergy Sales Director. "Our pipe technology selected by Aston Cord for the new biomass system combines strength, durability and flexibility across a wide hot water temperature range when compared to conventional pipe. Its lightweight profile also makes it easier to handle, while its HDPE outer jacket gives robustness to the structure.
"One of the biggest concerns for this project was environmental sustainability - so the pipe technology's low thermal conductivity and consequent heat loss became important factors in the context of optimising energy efficiency in a low carbon environment."
Flexalen pre-insulated pipes use Polybutene (PB-1) as the base material for their carrier pipes, and is the only plastic pipe system currently used in heating systems that can be fully fusion welded and operate up to 95°C.
