Mere Brook House Hotel, Wirral

An award winning Merseyside hotel is using green energy to provide heating and hot water for a new cottage conversion.

Mere Brook House Hotel in Wirral teamed up with renewable energy specialist Stiebel Eltron UK to design an energy saving and cost efficient heat pump system.

Working closely with plumbing and heating firm Par One, Stiebel Eltron UK created a rapid response air source heat pump system that would meet the fluctuating hot water and heating needs of both the new accommodation and the main hotel.

Mere Brook House Hotel is a converted Edwardian country house, offering high quality bed and breakfast and facilities for events, conferences and wedding receptions. The four extra bedrooms takes the hotel’s total to eight, with the four original bedrooms in the main house.

The cottage renovation has taken a year to complete, with Stiebel Eltron brought in to consult at the early stages, ensuring that the green energy system would complement the hotel’s designs and run at optimum efficiency. The air source heat pumps have replaced an existing LPG oil system, leading to significant cost savings for the hotel.

Mark McManus, managing director at Stiebel Eltron UK, said: “We originally looked at ground source heat pumps, but decided that air source heat pumps would be the best solution for Mere Brook’s heating and hot water. Cost, efficiency and reliability were the key and we have installed a system which met all of the owners’ aims. It will provide a rapid response to each room’s heating and hot water needs and can be turned off promptly to conserve energy.

“We installed a WPLE18 air source heat pump for the new cottage accommodation and a WPL33HT for the main house. These have been combined with a Stiebel Eltron SBS instantaneous hot water cylinder, minimizing the risk of Legionella bacteria growth as the store of water is very small. The SBS comes into its own where space is at a premium – acting as both a buffer and heater cylinder – and we have fitted this one neatly into the hotel’s plant room.

“With this particular system, each guest can regulate the temperature in their room at any time and the hot water will not disrupt the space heating. Fast response fan coil radiators were also installed, using low water temperatures to further increase the efficiency of the system.

“The hotel owners showed a lot of confidence in our technology and expertise, and we are delighted to have played our part in this stunning renovation project. The hotel and leisure sector is an area we are certainly looking to capitalise on at Stiebel Eltron UK, and this project shows just how well green energy technologies can work in hotels.”

Lorna Tyson, who owns the hotel with her husband Donald, said: “We have invested a substantial amount of time and effort, putting a lot of attention into detail while retaining the need to be cost effective, and are delighted with the results. When we started looking at the refurbishment we also wanted to be as efficient as possible with our energy consumption.

“Mark and his team worked very closely with us to design a system which was quick, efficient, reliable and also discreet – as a hotel our guests are paramount and we needed something that would not be noisy or that would look out of place.

“The air source heat pumps are now up and running and we are very happy to be saving money but also to be able to demonstrate our eco-friendly credentials. The hotel used to run on LPG oil and the prices have rocketed recently – this will minimise our outlay on bills and help to increase our bottom line.

“Our philosophy has always been to be as environmentally friendly as possible – we grow our own produce and source the rest of our food and drink locally. We always look to work with local suppliers, both to cut down on our carbon footprint and to support the region’s economy.”