It will incorporate an energy efficient biomass boiler and a ground source district heating system.
Crofton has been appointed to make the historic building more sustainable and to improve the facilities for the people that visit Great Dixter House. The aim is also to increase the capacity for gardening and horticultural education at the estate. All work is being carried out in a way that is in keeping and sympathetic to the historic nature of the building and grounds.
The Great Dixter Estate covers over 55 acres of attractive East Sussex countryside. It was the family home of the world renowned gardener Christopher Lloyd between 1921 and 2006. Great Dixter House is a Grade I listed building made up of three houses. The main house dates back to the 15th century, the second is a yeoman’s house from Benenden, across the border in Kent, built in the early 16th century and moved to the Great Dixter Estate in 1910, while the third joins the two properties together with additional accommodation, completed in 1912.
The buildings that surround the house complement it. An Oast house, the 16th century “Great Barn”, and the 17th century North Barn, together with other farm buildings, provide a backdrop to the estates stunning gardens that attract tens of thousands of visitors every year.
Richard Manuel, Crofton’s mechanical design engineer commented: “Part of our commission includes the installation of a new heating system that will generate warmth through a biomass boiler. A system of this kind is considered to be almost carbon neutral and is one of the most energy efficient and effective solutions for a historic building. Biomass, as a fuel source, is particularly suitable as the site currently has no mains gas connection and relies upon deliveries of heating oil. There is also the added potential for using some of the sites woodlands for coppicing in order to provide a proportion of the fuel required. The remainder of the boiler’s fuel source will be sustainable, locally sourced, wood chip”.
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“The biomass boiler will be discreetly located in the Oast House adjacent to the 15th Century Great Barn. Its fuel storage container will be concealed in a bunker beneath the ground, with an associated fuel transport auger mechanism. This will ensure that the view across the estate is not obstructed by the boiler. Most people won’t be able to tell that the boiler has been installed - a hatch for deliveries and a new unobtrusive chimney cowl are the only things that will be visible,” continued Manuel.
Crofton is also designing a ground source heat pump system serving under floor heating and domestic hot water to the existing farm outbuildings, including an old brick built milking shed, which will be re-developed to provide accommodation for resident apprentice gardeners around the world, administration space and a public educational facility.
An array of pipework shall be buried underneath the estate’s car park which shall extract heat from the earth. The ground source heat pump shall then raise the temperature of the medium to a useful level via the refrigeration cycle. Because earth, a little below the surface stays at a fairly constant temperature, the system can be used throughout the year.
Part of Crofton’s brief is to ensure that everything is kept as traditional and in keeping as possible, so Crofton is refurbishing all the existing cast iron radiators in the main house instead of installing new ones - which will extend their life for many years to come. “Everyone is enjoying the challenge of installing modern technology on a historic site,” said Manuel.
All phases of work on-site are due to be completed in spring 2011. Thomas Ford & Partners are the architects on the project; Appleyards Consulting are the project managers while Wenham O’Brien are the quantity surveyors.
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