Sixteen social homes designed and built to achieve Passivhaus standard have been constructed in Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway, with air source heat pumps, cylinders and uSense controls supplied by Baxi alongside training and on site support1. The homes were built for Loreburn Housing Association, with the heating contractor James Frew Ltd specifying the heat pump solution1.
The two and three-bedroom properties were designed by architect Robert Potter and Partners and built by main contractor Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd1. Each of the 16 homes takes its heating and hot water from a Baxi air source heat pump, a compatible cylinder and uSense controls, serving the property through three radiators1. Baxi's Specification Manager Craig McVicar and Engineering Solutions Manager Ryan Kirkwood worked with the James Frew team on sizing the correct heat pump for each house, and Baxi commissioning engineers Michael Murray and Adam Stock oversaw commissioning of each unit1. James Frew engineers received Baxi training on the specified system before the project began, and had access to on site support during installation1.
Evan Peat, Senior Contract Manager at James Frew Ltd, said:
"From tender to completion, it has been great to have the support of Baxi's expert service throughout the process. The design support and training meant the team had peace of mind that the most suitable products would be going into the homes and that our engineers were comfortable with the installation of them."
Rob Pearse, Director of Distribution Sales at Baxi UK, said the project showed how collaboration and consultation could deliver net-zero social housing, and that Baxi works with social housing providers and their contractors on both new build to Passivhaus standard and retrofit of existing developments1. Alison Maxwell, Project Delivery Officer for Loreburn HA, said the standard of the homes reflected Loreburn's commitment to building warm and highly energy efficient homes1. A Loreburn tenant, Alan Vinnie, said living in one of the properties would help lower his energy bills and that the home was quiet1.
The article states that this type of home will play a key role as local authorities and housing associations look to deliver new homes in line with the New Build Heat Standard (Scotland) or Future Homes Standard1. It does not give the number of heat pumps installed by model, the installed capacity of each unit, the cost of the heating systems, or the measured energy performance of the completed homes; those figures have not been reported1.
Why it matters for households
The Dalbeattie scheme is a worked example of the fabric-first approach: the insulation, windows and airtightness of the building are designed to Passivhaus standard, and the heat source is a heat pump rather than a gas or oil boiler1. For a household, that combination is what determines how much energy a home needs in the first place, and therefore how exposed it is to the price of whatever fuel it runs on. A home built this way draws its heat from electricity rather than from the gas grid, which changes where a household's energy independence sits: the running cost depends on electricity prices and on how well the building holds heat, not on a gas connection.
The project also shows the parts of a heat pump installation that sit outside the box on the wall. Correct sizing for each property, a cylinder matched to the system, controls, and engineers trained on the specific equipment before work starts are all named in the account as necessary to meeting the standard1. For households considering a heat pump in an existing home, those are the same variables, and the article notes Baxi's involvement in retrofit as well as new build1. The tenant quoted reports lower energy bills and a quiet home, but no measured figures for either have been published1.
What happens next
No completion date, handover date or further phases are given in the article1. Baxi's own announcement of the project is linked from the CIPHE article, and no next steps for the Dalbeattie site or for Loreburn Housing Association are set out1.