Background

Originally, Rapid Energy was approached by GCS Compliance Ltd to produce a service contingency plan for a large housing association’s district heating system. The existing plant room had experienced multiple failures which subsequently began disrupting heating and hot water to hundreds of residents, serviced by the district heating network.

This particular Housing Association’s District Heating system was providing heating and hot water to 3 separate blocks and an NHS surgery. There were approximately 322 dwellings that relied on the network.  

Critical asset failures can have huge financial implications to a housing association, as they are ultimately the incumbent for heating and hot water continuity.   

The primary benefit of a service contingency plan for the client is to drastically reduce downtime in the event of a boiler plant room failure.

24hrs after completing the site survey and contingency plan, the one remaining functional  boiler within the energy centre suffered a catastrophic failure.

1300kW Packaged Boiler

Temporary Boiler and Equipment Specified with Contingency Plan

1 x 1.3MW Packaged Boiler equipped with BMS

2 x Three Phase | 32a Commando | 5 Pin Red | 25m Lead

20 x 4″ Camlock 16 Bar Rated Hose | 5m Length |

1 x 2” FDA Approved Hot Water Hose | 10m

1 x Bunded Fuel Tank 4500

Existing Setup and Challenges

Immediately after producing the contingency plan, the required equipment was ring fenced and set aside for the client at our HQ. 

Our biggest challenge was the speed of delivery. The housing association in question was based in South East London, we therefore had to be conscious of high levels of traffic which could have delayed the delivery of the equipment.

Without a contingency plan, a site survey would to have been completed to confirm key temporary boiler requirements such as:

  • Boiler landing location
  • Distance from flow and return hoses
  • Power supply connection
  • Flow and Return Connection points
  • Access for transport
  • RAMS
  • Flue Clearances to ensure compliance with the clean air act.

Installation and location

Heating and Hot Water Recovery Strategy

The race was now on to restore heating to hundreds of apartments before the residents even realised there was a problem…

At 16:55 we received a call from the client to immediately activate their contingency plan. 

By 18:30 our logistical partner had already loaded the temporary boiler and our engineering team were mobilised, making their way to the client’s site.

At approximately 21:34, the temporary boiler arrived onsite, ready to be offloaded and for the installation and commissioning process to commence.

At 2am, heating and hotwater was restored to the district heating network. 

To summarise, we restored heating to approximately 322 dwellings and NHS surgery within 9 hours of receiving the first call. 

The client was incredibly happy and very impressed with how quickly we had mobilised our team and equipment. This has resulted in contingency plans being conducted for several other high risk sites.

Customer Quote
I met Jamie on site to put together a contingency plan (disaster recovery plan for a large Commercial boiler installation heating over 300 dwellings). I initially raised an eyebrow when Jamie told me they could have the temporary boiler installed and working within 24 hours……when the time came to implement the recovery plan they did in less than 12! Incredible service, well done Rapid Energy.
Stuart Maclean
Commercial Gas Contract Manager

Get in touch

  • Drop files here or
    Max. file size: 50 MB.
    • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
    • FEBE 2024
    • ISO-9001 Certified Logo
    • OFTEC Accredited Logo
    • CHAS Accredited Logo
    • Constructionline Gold Logo
    • GAS Safe Logo
    • SSIP Logo
    • F-Gass Certified
    • SafeContractor Logo