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Baxi supports Devon-based homeless charity with reliable, efficient, pre-packaged combined heating and hot water solution 

An Andrews Water Heaters COMBIflo unit is providing an efficient, reliable and compact solution to high performance heating and hot water at a homeless charity’s new head office in the centre of Plymouth. Andrews Water Heaters is part of Baxi.


Non-for-profit organisation Shekinah has been offering support to people experiencing all forms of homelessness for over 30 years. Having outgrown its previous base, the charity recently moved to new, larger premises in Stonehouse Creek. This has enabled them to expand their services, offering a wider range of community facilities including mental and physical health services, support with housing, education, finances and employment, and even a café.


With homelessness on the rise, the new building provides a warm and welcoming wellbeing space for Plymouth’s most vulnerable people, where they can benefit from free meals and hot showers. Having a reliable, efficient heating system is vital for the charity to deliver this outstanding level of support.

 

The challenge

 

Mark Symes, Director at M&E Contractors S2 Group Services, was involved in the redevelopment of the Stonehouse Creek premises, which is owned by Plymouth Council, from the outset. He explained:

 

“Stonehouse Creek underwent a complete remodelling by Obedair Construction before Shekinah moved in, with new showers added and a new kitchen built to serve the café. The existing system was over 20 years’ old and in disrepair. Part of the works, therefore, included refurbishing the ageing existing heating system so that it could meet the higher hot water demand and achieve the required comfort levels for its new use. We contacted Baxi for advice and support with the replacement plant.”

 

When selecting the new equipment, efficiency and reliability were key priorities to avoid unnecessarily high energy costs and keep the building operational. Size was an added consideration due to the restricted available space within the plant room.

 

The solution

 

Baxi worked with S2 Group Services to review requirements within the building and supply the most appropriate energy-efficient solution within the project parameters.

 

A COMBIflo 150/300 unit was recommended due to its ability to meet all project requirements by providing pre-packaged heating and hot water in one compact cabinet. The COMBIflo is a condensing, stainless steel combined space and domestic hot water heater that removes the need for separate appliances, efficiently overcoming challenging plant room space constraints.

 

In addition to providing reliable space heating, the COMBIflo can supply almost instantaneous hot water generation of up to 2,240 litres/hour and has a small integral 300 litre storage tank. The award-winning design reduces standing heat losses and levels of hot water generation, saving energy usage and reducing associated costs and carbon emissions. The COMBIflo is WRAS approved, making it compliant with the Water Supply Regulations.

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Left to right: Glynn Sanderson of BSS Plymouth and Exeter, Andrew Bell of Baxi and John Hamblin, Chief Executive at Shekinah

Mark said: “The COMBIflo was the perfect solution, overcoming the space constraints nicely in the small plant room. Retrofitting the unit onto the older system was a smooth process as the connections were well labelled. The combined heater, which we sized for heating, was quick and easy to install and the alterations could be carried out easily.”

 

The COMBIflo now provides hot water for the kitchen, showers, washrooms and washing machine as well as feeding the fan convectors and radiators for space heating.

 

The installation went well although the move from non-condensing technology to more efficient condensing technology meant that new flueing arrangements were necessary, as Mark explained:

 

“Switching to condensing units brings important efficiency benefits to charities like Shekinah as they can be up to 20% more efficient than non-condensing models. While this brings flueing considerations, we found the Andrews Water Heaters flue to be a good solution at Stonehouse Creek.”

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Andrews Water Heaters Combiflo

The outcome

 

With the new COMBIflo commissioned and fully operational, Shekinah has since opened the doors to its new head office.

 

John Hamblin, Chief Executive at Skehinah, said: “Our new heating system allows us to make our communal spaces warm and welcoming, especially to those who are street homeless who access our services first thing in the morning and in extreme weather conditions.

 

“We provide showers to people who are street homeless. We also apply funding each year to offer our venues as a warm space to anyone in the community who is struggling financially with their utility bills or needs company during the colder months. So having a system we are confident in to deliver this for our clients is extremely important. We are delighted with the outcome.”

 

Mark added: “From our perspective too, the COMBIflo proved an excellent solution and the support we received from Baxi throughout the project was great at every stage.”

 

The main contractor at Stonehouse Creek was Obedair Construction. The COMBIflo was delivered to site by BSS.

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