Danfoss Heat Pumps relocates and expands

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Nov 19, 2008

Danfoss Heat Pumps, formerly ECO Heat Pumps, has relocated to new purpose-built premises to cater for the growth of the business and its ambitious expansion plans for the future.

Founded in 2002 by Phil and Sally Moore, the company has moved from Sheffield Technology Parks to over 1,000m2 of office and warehousing space at Parkwood Business Park in Sheffield.

The company, which was acquired by Danfoss Heat Pumps in April this year, has seen the rapid expansion of its business in the past 12 months.

This includes increasing the size of its self build and commercial departments, trebling its turnover and expanding its number of staff to 42 full time employees.

"We had outgrown our previous premises and the new offices have given us more room to expand our sales and customer service teams and we also now have greater warehousing space for the storage of ground, air and water source heat pumps," explains Phil Moore, Managing Director of Danfoss Heat Pumps.

"This has been the best move we have ever made and means we can service our customers even better, expand our business further and help both the domestic and commercial markets to reduce their carbon footprint, with a more economical and sustainable alternative." Danfoss Heat Pumps chose two adjacent high specification units at Parkwood Business Park, which were well insulated and fitted with a heat recovery system, to provide healthy fresh air for staff and customers.

As part of its commitment to sustainability and environmental issues, the new premises will have all its heat and hot water needs provided for by its own air source units located outside the building.

The new premises comprises separate customer service departments for domestic and commercial projects, new workshops, storage and meeting room facilities and extensive warehouse space, to allow for further expansion of the business.

The company is also investing in a fork lift truck to enable it to store large quantities of heat pumps in the adjacent unit, providing a more responsive service to customers.

Phil Moore continues: "The new premises give us the perfect operating platform for future growth and the fact that it is heated by our very own heat pumps, demonstrates our commitment to the environment and making the most of the earth's natural resources.

Homeowners, businesses and local authorities are becoming increasingly concerned about their carbon footprint and heat pumps provide a more affordable alternative to conventional heat and hot water systems." As one of the country's leading suppliers of air source and ground source heat pumps, Danfoss Heat Pumps has extensive system design and installation experience, with over 2,500 heat pumps installed across the UK.

Heat pumps are much more energy efficient because every kilowatt of electricity used to run them, provides around 4 kilowatts of heat, giving the heat pump an efficiency of around 400%.

This compares to around 90% for even the most efficient condensing boiler.

Heat pumps also offer much lower operating costs, which means that compared to gas, a system typically pays for itself in 7-10 years.

Phil Moore continues: "Maintenance costs are also significantly less when compared to a conventional gas heating system.

Gas systems need to be serviced and have safety checks annually and typically should be replaced after 15 years.

When you compare this to a heat pump that requires only minimal servicing and lasts over 25 years, the lifetime savings are enormous.

When combined with good insulation, heat pumps are one of the most effective ways of heating a building, as part of a sustainable approach with significant environmental benefits." Danfoss Heat Pumps can advise on applying for a grant under the Low Carbon Building Scheme, which are available to community groups, charities and not for profit organisations.