Welsh council teams up with Glow-worm on long-term boiler-replacement programme

As part of its obligation to meet the Welsh Housing Quality Standard introduced by the Welsh Assembly in 2002, Torfaen County Borough Council in South Wales is working with boiler manufacturer Glow-worm to replace boilers in its housing stock of some 8500 units. Mervyn Green, who is in charge of the borough’s building services, explains, ‘We have a continuous programme of boiler renewal. About 65% of the stock is houses, with the rest being a mixture of flats and maisonettes. ‘Through our contractor, P. T. Willis, we are installing about 350 to 400 replacement boilers a year. We are mainly installing Glow-worm cxi combi high-efficiency boilers. Occasionally we install a system version or a heating-only one, but the tenants are more than happy at the extra space that comes once we’ve installed a combi and taken out the old cylinder.’ As part of the partnership with Glow-worm, all installers are fully trained by the company. Mervyn Green says, ‘The benefits of this close relationship are that breakdowns are a rarity. There has been a significant reduction in repair costs, and we get an instant response to any problems.’