Baxi UK & Ireland wins Retrofit Project of the Year at the HVR Awards 2026

As Europe marks EU Heat Pump Day, our colleagues in the UK are celebrating winning Retrofit Project of the Year for their work with JDGray Associates and Norwich City Council (NCC) to decarbonise heating and hot water at the iconic Grade II-listed Eaton Park Pavilion. 

The all-electric Baxi solution, comprising two roof-mounted Baxi HP50 13 kW air source heat pumps (ASHPs), two buffer vessels and two Baxi 300 litre ASHP cylinders, is a standout example of heat pump innovation in action and a fantastic achievement by an exceptional project team.

High praise from the judges who said:
 

“The Eaton Park Pavilion project provides a practical and highly visible example of a successful public-sector heat pump retrofit that supports local government decarbonisation objectives."
 

“This project stood out for its success in effectively and efficiently decarbonising the heating and hot water provision for the site while bringing the Norwich City Council closer to its sustainability goals.”
 

Objective

The original objective was to upgrade the existing gas heating and hot water system serving the Eaton Park Pavilion with a more efficient gas system. However, in line with NCC’s 2030 net zero target, a new decision was made to move to an all-electric solution based around air source heat pumps (ASHPs).

Requirements and challenges

The solution needed to meet high simultaneous demand for domestic hot water for the post-match showers. The challenge from an engineering perspective was designing a heat pump system capable of ensuring sufficient hot water as efficiently as possible, even on a cold winter’s day.

A further consideration was the size and placement of the ASHPs. Due to its heritage and distinctive architectural design, the Pavilion is frequently photographed by both cameras and drones. As the ASHPs needed to be roof-mounted, a key design parameter of the Council was to keep visibility of any kit on the roof minimal above the pavilion balustrade.

Technical design services

Baxi’s sales and technical design teams were involved from the start of the project, working with JDGray Associates to explore different ways of using PV panels and battery storage with the heat pumps to accumulate and store low carbon energy for use at times of peak load. 
 

Specification support

Baxi also provided support specification. Critically, the Baxi heat pump met the low-profile requirement. As this was to be a packaged heat pump and hot water plant, the Baxi ASHP cylinder was also selected.

Commissioning 

The solution was commissioned by Baxi’s specialist engineers to ensure optimal performance. For Richard Green, Project Co-ordinator in Parks and Open Spaces, Climate and Environment at NCC, the solution ticks all boxes, effectively and efficiently decarbonising the heating and hot water provision for the new inclusive facilities at Eaton Park Pavilion while bringing the Council closer to its sustainability goals. 

“We were already familiar with Baxi’s boiler solutions and are extremely pleased with our all-electric heat pump heating and hot water solution at the Pavilion,” Richard said. “This is a great project that successfully meets sustainability objectives – and it looks good too!” 
 

You can read more about the project here.