Kensa

The Kensa Group is a collection of British businesses involved in the manufacture and installation of ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) and the ownership of associated underground infrastructure.

The Kensa Group is comprised of Kensa Heat Pumps and Kensa Contracting, and collectively employs over fifty staff across the UK.

Established in 1999 in Cornwall, the business continues to operate from the South West with the manufacturing facility and headquarters located on the site of the former Mount Wellington Tin Mine in Truro, Cornwall. Sales operations are based in Exeter, Devon.

Kensa Heat Pumps is UK's only manufacturer of ground source heat pumps. According to BSRIA, Kensa Heat Pumps was the leading supplier of ground source heat pumps from 2012–2018.

Kensa Contracting is a specialist installation business dedicated to the installation of ground source heat pumps in large-scale new build and social housing retrofit programmes. Kensa Contracting is renowned for its ambient temperature Shared Ground Loop Array systems.

History

Established in 1999 (as Kensa Engineering Ltd), the Kensa Group was founded by childhood friends, Richard Freeborn and Guy Cashmore, former marine engineers, who continue to serve the company as External Affairs Director and Technical Director respectively. During their time working on ‘super yachts’, they recognised the value of heat pumps and saw an opportunity to be amongst the UK pioneers looking to transfer the technology into buildings.

Opportunities to install heat pumps emerged and these early experiences revealed that imported models were expensive, over-complicated and difficult to install in UK properties. As a consequence, efforts were diverted towards manufacturing and the first Kensa ground source heat pump, the GeoKitten, was sold in 2000. 

In 2007 Richard Freeborn acquired a 27-acre former tin mine site in Truro - Mount Wellington Tin Mine - to provide enlarged facilities and the opportunity for further expansion.  In addition, Simon Lomax was appointed as Managing Director of Kensa.

In 2008 Kensa secured a contract with the RNLI involving a unique heat pump designed to cool the wheelhouse in the new Tamar Class lifeboats. In the same year Kensa secured its largest order to date - 225 heat pumps from a leading housing association with support from a ‘Big Six’ energy company. The company swiftly reorganised production following the appointment of James Standley and secured a £30,000 prize by winning the Ashden Award for UK Business of the Year.

2010 and 2011 saw continued improvements in financial performance as the company geared up for the scheduled launch of the Renewable Heat Incentive.  Kensa staff also played an influential role in the development of more prescriptive Microgeneration Scheme (MCS) installation standards which mirrored its own in-house approach to system design.

Unfortunate delays to the launch of the RHI were mitigated by the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) social housing competition which allowed Kensa to secure an order for retrofit installations at 198 sheltered bungalows across Somerset.  Given the tight delivery schedule imposed by the RHPP rules, Kensa was obliged to provide a turnkey solution. 

The success of this programme, the launch of the unique Shoebox heat pump - an ultra-small and ultra-quiet heat pump designed for the more modest heat loads typical to new build properties and smaller social houses – and the desire to utilise communal ground arrays, a configuration which placed a greater pressure on design and installation expertise, combined to encourage the creation of Kensa Contracting Ltd in 2012. 

These successes in the social housing sector prompted the appointment of Lord Taylor of Goss Moor as Kensa Chairman in late 2013.  At the time, Lord Taylor was also Chairman of the National Housing Federation, the umbrella organisation for social landlords. Kensa lobbied successfully for its communal ground array system architecture - ambient temperature Shared Ground Loop Arrays - to be regarded as district heating which made installations eligible for the non-domestic RHI which had launched in later 2011.  Government also increased the RHI tariffs in response to evidence presented by Kensa.

These refinements were critical as the long-awaited emergence of the domestic RHI in 2014 had a limited impact as the tariffs for biomass boilers were set at a generous level which discouraged many prospects from considering GSHPs.  As a result, Kensa concentrated heavily on social housing retrofit projects with a particular emphasis on sheltered housing schemes.  These projects were most appealing to landlords as these properties typically had high heat demand which was necessary as the RHI income (at the time) was based upon metered consumption.  Dr Matthew Trewhella was appointed as a Contracts Manager to oversee activity.

Reductions to social housing rent levels, enacted without warning in the 2015 Budget in an attempt to reduce the welfare bill slowed momentum if the social housing sector as landlords reassessed their financial budgets and capital programmes.  A key concern was the inability to be certain of the RHI income level as payments were based upon the metered consumption at each dwelling. 

Supported by its trade association, Kensa embarked on an initiative which ultimately saw these payments based upon the deemed consumption taken from the property's Energy Performance Certificate, a vital change announced in late 2016 but not effective until early 2018. 

The announcement stimulated interest as did the growing awareness in the social housing sector that outcomes of early schemes were impressive and tenants were benefitting from far lower heating bills.  Kensa grew its marketing, business development and sales teams which concluded in several major projects including the installation of Shoebox heat pumps in 400 high-rise flats primarily owned by the Borough of Enfield.  These social housing projects also took advantage of grants made available via energy companies and Kensa established strong relationships with two of the ‘Big Six’.

Kensa also launched the Evo series of heat pumps designed for larger properties and launched an offer for new build housing whereby developers could avoid the full cost of a GSHP installation with a separate entity funding, owning and maintaining the ground array in return for the RHI income and, in most cases, an annual connection fee.  Kensa Utilities was established to take advantage of this opportunity in 2017.

In January 2019, James Standley and Matthew Trewhella were promoted to the role of Managing Director of Kensa Heat Pumps and Kensa Contracting, with Simon Lomax focusing exclusively on Group activities.

Products

Kensa Heat Pumps provide a range of ground source heat pump units engineered for British properties, from the 3 - 6kW Shoebox Series to the 7 - 17kW Evo Series, to the largest single phase heat pump in the UK (24kW Twin Compact), to the 45 - 75kW plant room range. Kensa supplies a range of accessories to complement the full suite of Kensa ground source heat pumps, including pre-coiled slinky pipe.

Prizes and Awards

Kensa has received several industry accolades, including:

• Ashden Award for UK Business of the Year (2008)
• Western Morning News Awards (2013)
• H&V News Awards (2013, 2017, 2019)
• Regen Green Energy Awards (2013, 2016)
• National Heat Pump Awards (2013)
• Build It Awards (2017)
• Cornwall Sustainability Awards (2017)
• Housing Innovation Awards (2017)
• National Housing Maintenance Forum (2017, 2016)

External links

• Kensa Heat Pumps
• Kensa Contracting
• Kensa Utilities

This article "Kensa" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Kensa. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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