Specialist sustainable energy company, Vital Energi, has won the contract to create the district heating network for Center Parcs’ fifth holiday village in the UK, due to open in spring 2014.
The new £250 million Woburn Forest Center Parcs in Bedfordshire is currently under construction and is being built to an exemplary level of energy efficiency and sustainability standards.
Center Parcs Woburn Forest will comprise of 625 low carbon forest lodges and a 75-bed hotel and spa. It will also include indoor and outdoor sports facilities, restaurants, retail units, a lake and swimming pool.
Birse Civils, the Balfour Beatty Company which has won the £26 million contract to build the infrastructure for the village, has awarded the contract for designing, supplying and installing the main district heating network to Blackburn-based Vital Energi.
Work began on installing the 18km of pre-insulated steel and flexible plastic pipes in June 2012 and is due for completion by December 2012.
To accommodate the unique geography of the holiday village, which is being built within a forest, Vital Energi has worked with the client to design a district heating network which navigates a complex environment and includes an unprecedented amount of specially-made curved steel pipe.
Ian Whitelock, joint managing director of Vital Energi, commented: “Vital Energi is delighted to have been awarded this prestigious contract and to be able to use our expertise to help Center Parcs realise its ambition of a more sustainable heating system for its new Woburn Forest holiday village.
Woburn Forest will be an exemplary sustainable tourism destination. Center Parcs is investing in energy efficiency and renewable technologies to achieve its aim of consuming 25 per cent less energy than the average existing village.
Center Parcs UK Limited welcomed 1.6 million visitors to its four existing villages last year and still managed to achieve 7 per cent carbon reduction across the company. This year Center Parcs is aiming for a four per cent carbon reduction.
Center Parcs was ranked joint number one in the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Performance League Table, published for the first time last year. The league table ranks companies and organisations on their efforts to improve energy efficiency.
