Sutcliffe Consulting Engineers deliver M&E Design for Scunthorpe Social Housing Project
Sutcliffe Consulting Engineers have successfully completed the design for replacement of the district heating mains on the Market Hill site in Scunthorpe. The site, which was built in the 60’s, consists of three residential tower blocks and ten residential maisonettes.
Market Hill, which is managed by Ongo Homes, had previously suffered from various leaks from the buried steel heating mains causing disruption. The scheme looked to replace the old heating mains with a new district heat network utilising pre-insulated PEX pipework.
Sutcliffe Consulting Engineers were employed directly by Ongo Homes to design and supervise the Mechanical and Electrical installation. The design utilises the existing energy centre on site which was recently refurbished but provides greater control over the heat network with separate pipe runs from the energy centre to each block. This allows these to be commissioned and isolated from the energy centre.
The design was produced in line with the CIBSE Heat Networks: Code of Practice for the UK and sizing of mains based on the Danish Standard DS 439 accounting for diversity of domestic hot water usage across the site.
One of the key challenges of the installation was proven to be the presence of existing buried services on the site. The risks were mitigated by obtaining services records from the Statutory Authorities for gas, water, drainage, power and telecom. The contractor was instructed to commence a site services scan prior to starting any trenching works from which a CAD plan was produced identifying the location of any services discovered. This process led to a revision to the proposed trench routes throughout the site to make use of the clearest routes.