Ashford Borough Council is installing Kensa Shoebox ground source heat pumps in 74 homes across Appledore and Charing, marking the council’s first use of this technology in its housing stock. The £2.2 million project is part of a wider £11.3 million retrofit programme to improve the energy efficiency of around 700 homes, funded by the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and matched by the council.
Working with a delivery partner, improvements already delivered over the past 18 months include cavity wall insulation, external wall insulation, new windows and doors, underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps and solar panels.
The compact Kensa Shoebox units are being fitted inside each home, replacing existing oil, electric, and gas heating systems. Installation involves drilling boreholes to depths of around 100m to extract heat from the ground.
