Drilling Party - Ground Source Heat Pump in Chelsea

The team celebrated the drilling of a bore-hole for a ground source heat pump in listed town house in Chelsea. In this project, we are bringing new low-carbon technology into a sensitive conservation setting demonstrating that protecting historic character and embracing the future don’t have to be at odds.

This milestone also provided a valuable opportunity for knowledge-sharing and professional development across the practice and our sister company Cagni Williams Energy.

Laura Carrara-Cagni took our Part 1 graduate architects, Part 2 / 3 architectural assistants, interns and colleagues through the project in detail. She explained the design process, the technical coordination, how the ground source heat pump and associated energy systems work, and how these considerations can be integrated sensitively within a historic building.

Sharing knowledge is an important part of our approach to social value. We see projects as opportunities to support learning, build confidence and give emerging architects meaningful exposure to the realities of design, sustainability and construction.

It also forms part of our commitment to ongoing CPD: creating space within the practice for colleagues at different stages of their careers to learn from live projects and from one another.

We think this is a great example of how project delivery, sustainability and education can work together and a valuable learning opportunity for the whole team.  Laura invited local councillors from Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, M&E Engineers from MStep, heritage consultant from Levrant, structural engineer from Evolve, Consultants Genius Energy Lab and contractors Dominik and we had a lot of interest from passers-by.  

We are also excited about this project becoming an exemplar and a prototype for many future retrofit and low carbon energy projects in our historic city residential neighbourhoods.