New homes for Hammersmith

Jeffrey Adams of United House, Ed Davey Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Client Mike Spencer-Morris, and Donald Daw from Mitsubishi Electric

A renewable energy heating system that uses water from the River Thames to heat a new mixed-use development in Kingston-upon-Thames was switched on on Friday 18 October by Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, in a first for the UK construction industry.

Kingston Heights is an eco-friendly £70m residential and hotel development built by United House for NHP Leisure Developments on the site of a former power station, right in the heart of Kingston town centre and some 200 metres from the River Thames.

The scheme will receive all of its heating, hot water and cooling requirements thanks to a state-of-the-art Open Water Heat Pump system that harvests water from the River Thames. The ground-breaking system will save almost 500 tonnes of CO₂ annually and reduce residents heating bills by nearly £250 a year over conventional gas boilers.

Equipment inside the specially-built pump house on the barge dock draws water from the Thames and processes it through a heat exchanger, before being pumped into the development’s heating system. The water is then pumped back into the river again with no harm to the environment or local wildlife. This is the first system of its kind in the UK, with the only other installation being in Japan.

When complete, Kingston Heights will comprise 137 residential properties, including 81 private apartments, 56 affordable homes for national housing provider Affinity Sutton and a four star 142 bedroom hotel.

Earlier this year, United House completed another UK construction first on the site, the highly-challenging encapsulation of a UK Power Networks electrical substation as part of the project. The substation, comprising four live 132kv transformers, was encased within a steel-lined concrete ‘box’ 200 metres long, 38 metres wide and four storeys high. Above this, a podium deck was formed to create a foundation for the residential apartments and hotel using 59 pre-stressed concrete beams, each 38 metres long and weighing 70 tonnes.

The work was carried out as part of Mole Valley Housing Association's commitment to deliver the best possible homes for its residents

Work on the £1.8million transformation of a Leatherhead estate completed last month. United House started work to improve the 74 homes belonging to Mole Valley Housing Association (part of Circle) on the Clements Mead estate at the beginning of the year.

New doors were installed along with double-glazed windows, improved insulation, roofing, guttering and lighting, and extensive redecoration was carried out as part of the 10 month renovation project.

To celebrate the success of the regeneration United House organised a lunch for residents on Friday 11 October.

Residents were delighted with the work and Sheila Paton, 76, is just one resident to see the benefits after she downsized from a top floor two-bedroom flat to a one bedroom bungalow on Clements Mead as work began. She said: “I was really pleased with the way everything went. We were kept well informed, the work was quick and efficient and they kept everything tidy throughout. The refurbishment has really improved the estate. It’s looking wonderful now”.

This year was our 24th consecutive year of sponsoring the opening day of the jumps season at Ascot

It was a bright but crisp day for the 380 clients, business partners and staff that attended the annual United House Charity Race Day at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday 2 November.

Guests were entertained by a full day’s racecard, fairground rides and a fireworks spectacular to end the day’s festivities.

Amongst the many winners (and some losers) during the day was our staff charity of the year, The Children’s Trust, which benefitted from donations totalling an amazing £2,106 from our generous guests and staff members. Thank you all!

The Children’s Trust is celebrating 30 years as the UK’s leading charity for children with brain injury. It provides expert rehabilitation, education, therapy and care at its specialist centre in Tadworth, supporting children and families from across the UK. It also offers services in communities around the country and online support for parents.

The charity carol service will be held at St Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield

United House is pleased to be supporting leading charity Mencap as part of its proactive Corporate Social Responsibility programme. To help celebrate the festive season we are sponsoring a Carols by Candlelight service at the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, London EC1, at 6.30pm on Thursday 5 December in aid of Mencap.

Not only is this church one of the oldest in London, it has also appeared in numerous films including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, Amazing Grace, Elizabeth: The Golden Age and The Other Boleyn Girl.

This is a great way to start the festive season with a selection of carols by the English Baroque Choir and readings from well known celebrities. Following the service there will be wine and canapés.

There are a limited number of tickets available for this event!! If you would like to apply please contact bknight@unitedhouse.net as soon as possible. Tickets will be issued on a first come, first served basis.

United House has recently been awarded Carbon Trust Standard certification in recognition of its efforts in reducing carbon emissions from its sites and offices.

This certification is widely regarded as the world's leading certifier of organisational carbon footprint reduction. Reduction of our CO2 emissions, both within our operations and in the homes we are building and refurbishing, is one of our main KPIs and we have implemented a number of initiatives in recent years. These include switching our fleet from petrol to biodiesel, installing a voltage optimisation unit to reduce our electricity usage, upgrading our boilers to energy efficient models, reducing water usage and waste and upgrading to PIR and energy efficient lighting. 

We are committed to making future reductions across our operations and are currently looking at a number of options at our other offices and construction sites.

United House was one of the main sponsors of Swanley's first Job Fair, hosted by the local MP for Sevenoaks and Minister for Business and Enterprise, the Rt. Hon Michael Fallon.  

Along with other local employers, our HR team met many enthusiastic and talented local jobseekers interested in work and apprenticeship opportunities. In all we spoke to over 120 potential candidates, taking in many CVs and discussing the importance of work experience and training for people at the start of their careers.  

An interview was arranged on the spot for a vacancy we were recruiting for and two interviews were later scheduled for work experience opportunities. One of these was successful and we have a talented person now learning on the job in our IT department.

The event was very well attended by more than 500 local people, with seminars running throughout the day. Such was the success the Mayor confirmed his intention to make it an annual event.

Paynes & Borthwick virtual gallery, Huffington Post.co.uk, 3 November

Circle selects 33 for £1bn framework, Construction News, 1 Nov 2023

Will London’s Soho lose it’s Mojo?, The Wall St Journal Europe, 1 Nov

Kingston Riverside development launches 'ground-breaking' thermal system that will heat homes using River Thames, Your Local Guardian, 23 Oct

River Thames to provide eco-friendly heating, Housing Excellence, 21 Oct

Capital challenge, Inside Housing, 20 Sept 2023

River Thames water to heat homes, Building4Change.com, 22 Oct

Interview: Jeff Adams United House, Building, 16 October 2023

Work starts on housing scheme next to Wenlock Arms, Building Design, 13 Sept

In conversation with Nick Stonley, PRS Update, 12 Sept.

United House wins £7.8m project in Islington for Family Mosaic, The Builders Conference, 2 Sep.