Fortem has completed an extensive £4.5m refurbishment project to create bright, modern and welcoming apartments at Larwood House in Worksop.

The refurbishment features new communal spaces including a lounge, kitchen and accessible landscaped gardens, a store for personal mobility scooters, a drying room and a treatment room for visiting mobile hairdressers. The installation of photovoltaics and air source heat pumps will not only benefit residents but also supports decarbonisation efforts.

Carefully considering resident’s needs whilst offering innovative and sustainable solutions, the completed refurbishment will increase the longevity of the building whilst providing warm, comfortable, and safe homes for those who live there.

An important part of the Larwood House project for Bassetlaw District Council was a focus on sustainability and energy efficiency. This has been achieved this in a number of ways:

• Removing inefficient gas supplies to the building and installing and a new air source heat pump system to provide heating and hot water to all properties and communal areas, all of which are individually metered via a smart remote monitoring system so that residents can track their energy usage
• Installation of solar panels which generate electricity that is directly used to power the air source heat pumps, typically cutting energy bills by 15-25%
• The new external wall insulation and loft insulation has increased the U-value of the property by 25% on minimum standards with the aim to bring down the cost of living for residents
• New windows and doors fitted to reduce heat loss, a typical home loses 40% of its heat through inefficient windows and doors
• Car charging points installed to certain parking bays available for use of visitors and residents of the accommodation
• Energy efficient LED lights installed throughout, reducing energy consumption by 85%
• Sun tunnels installed to improve natural light into the building, reducing the lighting requirements in the daytime