22nd December 2011

WEYMOUTH: Eco boilers for Olympic homes

By Harry Walton

A BIOMASS heating system has been officially turned on for £13 million worth of homes in Portland’s Olympic village at Osprey Quay.

The fuel first at the Officers Field development was switched on by South Dorset MP Richard Drax who then joined other dignitaries in a tour of the village.

The system uses boilers fired by sustainably sourced wood pellets to provide efficient heat and hot water to the homes while cutting carbon output by 55 per cent.

Mr Drax said: “Anything that is non-oil must be good. The whole aim is to move off fossil fuels and it is also in the Olympic spirit to provide an alternative fuel which won’t pollute as oil does.

“Here we have an Olympic village which is wood-fuelled. You are doing a marvellous job here.”

Sustainability is at the heart of the development which also collects rainwater to flush toilets, for garden use and for washing machines in the scheme which has 59 homes, 19 of which will go to the Magna Housing Association as affordable housing.

Dorchester developer ZeroC said the rest will be sold with one-bedroom homes starting at £135,000 up to £275,000 for a four-bedroom house.

Weymouth and Portland Mayor Graham Winter said: “I like the idea of wood pellets for heating but, even more so, I like the idea of an incinerator for this area so we can burn waste material, which would otherwise go to landfill, and which at the same time generates heat.

“But that is something way in the future while biomass is actually here on Portland now which is the way to go.”

Mr Drax and Mr Winter later led dignitaries and guests on a tour of the site where kitchens have been left out of homes to maximise Olympic bed spaces, althletes eating at a temporary central dining facility. The missing kitchens will be fitted after the Games.

ZeroC project manager Andy Trim had earlier welcomed guests and told them that four tons of wood pellets would last a boiler complex roughly a fortnight.

PICTURE 1: South Dorset MP Richard Drax prepares to cut the opening tape helped by West Dorset District Council vice-chairman Teresa Seall

PICTURE 2: Weymouth and Portland Mayor Graham Winter and Dorset County Council chairman John Wilson and touring the development