Eskdale Campsite & Eelbeck Barn

The project served two separate buildings on the site – the main visitor facility block at Eskdale Campsite and the neighbouring Eelbeck Barn – and involved replacing an existing LPG boiler system with Vaillant aroTHERM Plus air source heat pumps, alongside a full upgrade of the heating distribution pipework, radiators and plant room equipment.

Eskdale Campsite is a National Trust-owned campsite set within the Lake District National Park. The works covered two buildings served by their own plant rooms: the main campsite facility block, which houses the men’s and women’s toilets, showers, office and dog-washing area used by visiting campers; and Eelbeck Barn, an adjacent occupied building. Heating and hot water demand is significant and highly seasonal, peaking when the site is at full capacity during the visitor season. As a heritage site in a sensitive rural landscape, the works needed to be planned carefully to protect the character of the site and minimise disruption to the surrounding environment.

The existing heating system was fuelled by LPG – a fossil fuel that is expensive to run, reliant on regular bulk deliveries to a remote rural location, and responsible for on-site carbon emissions. The National Trust wanted to remove the LPG dependency in line with its wider sustainability commitments, while making sure the replacement system could deliver reliable heating and hot water across both buildings and a high-traffic public facility.

The project also needed to be sequenced around the campsite’s operation and completed without disrupting access to visitor amenities, with particular care taken around the commissioning of hot water supply to the public toilets and shower block.

Following a full design process, PCL Net Zero specified four Vaillant aroTHERM Plus air source heat pumps – three serving the main campsite facility block and one serving Eelbeck Barn – sized to meet the combined heating and hot water demand of both buildings.

The design included new hot water cylinders, new primary pipework runs, replacement radiators, and a full plant room rebuild in each building, alongside the controls, metering and circulation components needed to run the system efficiently. Independent third-party monitoring was specified from the outset, so that real-world performance could be tracked transparently alongside the manufacturer’s own data.

The system was installed by PCL Net Zero’s in-house team, working in coordination with National Trust staff to minimise disruption to the site. Works included strip-out of the existing LPG boiler and radiators, new concrete bases and plant rooms, installation and commissioning of the heat pumps and hot water cylinders, and associated plumbing improvements across the campsite facilities.

All works were delivered within the agreed programme, within budget, and with no accidents, incidents or near misses recorded throughout the project.

Both buildings at Eskdale now run on fully electric, low-carbon heating. The new system provides reliable heating and hot water across the campsite facility block and Eelbeck Barn, and has removed the need for ongoing LPG deliveries to a remote rural location.

Early operational data from the installed monitoring shows the system running efficiently, with a measured heating Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 4.1 recorded during cold January conditions – meaning the heat pump is delivering around four units of heat for every one unit of electricity it consumes. The combination of manufacturer and independent third-party monitoring means performance can be tracked transparently and optimised further over time.

By replacing LPG combustion with grid-connected air source heat pumps, the project eliminates on-site fossil fuel burning across both buildings. At a measured COP of 4.1, the new system produces substantially less carbon per unit of heat than the LPG boiler it replaced – and the emissions profile will continue to improve automatically as the UK electricity grid decarbonises. The change also removes the noise, smell, delivery traffic and local air-quality impacts associated with LPG, giving campers, staff and the surrounding National Trust landscape a cleaner environment. With modern heat pumps and live monitoring now in place, both buildings are well-positioned to support the National Trust’s long-term net zero ambitions.