Business News
Heat pumps: Technology is proven and it is not rocket science
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s we head towards the end of 2021 and the start of a new year, we reflect on what the past 12 months has brought us and look towards the future. In the world of construction and especially the building services sector, the recent COP26 conference has made lots of promises. But will action follow? Our government has realised that we cannot go on burning fossil fuels so, from 2025, no new homes will be allowed to have gas connected to them. There is much discussion about what will provide the heating and hot water in our houses but one technology that is already proven - and Griffiths have been installing for more than a decade - is heat pumps. It is not rocket science and the principle behind the operation of a heat pump has been around for a long time. Heat pumps work in the same way as the fridge in your kitchen, collecting heat from one place - the air or ground - and moving it somewhere else - into your home heating and domestic water systems. Griffiths were the first Northamptonshire installers to gain Microgeneration
Certification Scheme status for heat pumps in 2008. Since then several hundred have been installed, with most also being regularly maintained by Griffiths. Another recent change affecting both heat pumps and air conditioning is the use of R32 refrigerant gas, which is much less harmful to the environment if it should leak than its predecessors. It also has superior energy efficiency. At this time of year, the engineers at Griffiths are very busy keeping people warm with a wide range of heating products including air and ground source heat pumps, and air to air heat pumps (conventional air conditioning). In addition, the Griffiths service team are making sure regular maintenance is carried out to heating, cooling and ventilation equipment throughout Northamptonshire, an essential part of keeping it at peak condition and spotting possible problems at an early stage. Service plans or one-off servicing is also available for equipment that has not been installed by Griffiths.
n Contact Griffiths by telephone on 01536 420666, via www. griffithsaircon.co.uk or by visiting Griffiths’ Energy Efficiency Centre showroom at 111 High Street in Burton Latimer 9am5pm, Monday to Friday.
Northampton Museum & Art Gallery: Its design has won a regional building excellence award for architects GSSArchitecture
History revived: Architects aim to inspire the next generation
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he expansion and redevelopment project at Northampton Museum & Art Gallery has won lavish praise since it opened in July. Now the scheme, designed by Northamptonshire architects GSSArchitecture, has been announced as the regional winner of the Local Authority Building Control Building Excellence Award for the ‘best non-residential extension’ category. The project has also been shortlisted for the National Building Excellence Awards which will take place in January. The museum has undergone a £7 million refurbishment, which has doubled the space available, creating a dedicated shoe gallery, new exhibition spaces, a central hall, a new shop, café and outside terrace. The museum is the latest in the extensive GSS portfolio of awardwinning galleries and museums, with the practice’s links to arts and culture in the county dating back to the founder of the practice, John Alfred Gotch, who designed the Alfred East Art Gallery
in Kettering in 1913. This Grade II Listed gallery is currently undergoing work as part of GSSArchitecture’s major redevelopment of the Kettering Gallery, Library and Museum. The Kettering GLaM project is set to unify all three sites, creating more flexible space and increasing accessibility to open the historic buildings up to be used by as many people as possible. The success of GSSArchitecture’s recent projects has presented a number of opportunities for the practice to take part in some exciting initiatives, as part of its commitment to the training and mentoring of the next generation of construction professionals. These initiatives have included several presentations to University of Northampton design students, led by partners and associates at GSS, which focused on key considerations when working with historic buildings, including museums and galleries. Partners at GSSArchitecture also took part in the Shoebox Town event, hosted by the Northamptonshire Society of Architects, which looked at encouraging younger children to think
about their town and how it could look in the future, by developing physical models using shoe boxes. Tom Jagger, partner and lead architect at GSSArchitecture, said: “The new and improved spaces at the Northampton Museum & Art Gallery are proving to be a huge success following the museum’s reopening to the public earlier this year and we are thrilled to receive this award which further recognises the great work carried out by the project team. “As a practice, we place great emphasis on encouraging the next generation of architects and industry professionals so we are delighted to have been involved in recent local events, sharing knowledge and experience gained from our recent projects with the younger generations.” n For further information on GSSArchitecture’s range of experience, or to speak to their team about any upcoming projects that could benefit from their expertise, visit www. gssarchitecture.com
CAREgivers go above and beyond to put emphasis on care to our clients
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021 has been another memorable year with so much hope after 2020, Home Instead East Northants were happy to hear the news of Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing that vaccinations would start so our CAREGivers could be vaccinated to protect our clients. Our CAREGivers continued to make sure clients were safe and having their needs met especially when families could not visit. After 11 years of owning Home Instead East Northants we understand how important caring for your loved ones is.
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Business Times
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Home Instead Senior Care was rebranded in February and our logo was simplified to Home Instead. It was an exciting change to showcase that Home Instead is not just about senior care but for anyone over the age of 18 who needs care to be able to remain in their own home. Our services include young adults, mental health, live in care, personal care, home help, companionship, and convalescence care. Home Instead UK also recognised the importance of working with other organisations and is partnering with Parkinson’s UK to create a
December 2021
Home Instead East Northants franchise owners Mark and Rosina
bespoke training programme about the condition for our CAREGivers. It has also linked up with Boots and is the first care company to feature on the Boots Health Hub giving people guidance on where to find our services. With the pandemic changing the way we rely on technology and more people buying a smart phone, laptop or tablet to keep in touch with loved ones, we recognise the importance of giving people training to understand what going digital is all about - particularly to the older generation that did not
grow up with it. We have also faced the biggest recruitment crisis in care in more than a decade and finding the right people is so important. With most of the population vaccinated we are actively looking for new people with the right qualities to join our team and welcome new clients who need our support.
n For more information visit www. homeinstead.co.uk/eastnorthants or call 01933 678775
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