This site publishes independent guides to commercial and public-sector heat pumps across the UK: costs, funding routes, regulations and what to ask an installer. It is operated by SEO Dons Ltd, an advertising agency, and it is not an installer. It does not survey, design, install or commission anything, and it holds no installer accreditations. Heat decarbonisation for non-domestic buildings is a genuinely different discipline from the domestic heat pump work that fills most of the search results, and that gap is what these guides address.
The guides are written around a common problem. Facilities and estates managers want to get off gas, boards are asking about net zero, and many quotes are either optimistic about running cost or silent on how a commercial building pays for the work. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (£7,500, or £9,000 for eligible off-gas-grid properties) dominates the heat pump conversation, but it is a flat grant per installation up to 45 kWth, so it suits small systems and not building-scale plant, and larger buyers are often handed a domestic story that does not fit. This site sets out the real picture.
What this site is
The guides cover commercial air-source, ground-source, hybrid and high-temperature heat pumps, from a 40 kW boiler replacement in a single office through to multi-megawatt heat networks serving a whole campus. A good project starts the same way: the installer reviews at least twelve months of your gas or oil consumption, carries out a proper heat-loss survey, and models running cost and carbon at current and forecast energy prices. You should see the real numbers, including the unwelcome ones, before you spend anything.
That modelling matters because the running-cost question is where most of the trust is won or lost. Electricity costs more per unit than gas, so a heat pump only makes financial sense if it is designed to run efficiently. A good design uses low flow temperatures, typically 45 to 55C, because every degree of reduced flow temperature lifts the seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP). Performance should be quoted to BS EN 14825 for SCOP and BS EN 14511 for rated COP, the recognised standards, so the figures can be compared directly against any other compliant supplier. Be wary of any quote that cannot show its working.
Why commercial heat pumps need their own guide
Heat is responsible for roughly a third of UK carbon emissions, and for most commercial buildings the gas boiler is the single biggest source on site. The buildings that suit a heat pump well, year-round operators with ageing plant and decent fabric or the budget to improve it, are exactly the ones where a careful design and the right funding route make the difference between a project that stacks up and one that does not. That is specialist design work. Getting the flow temperature, the emitter survey, the bivalent changeover point or the electrical supply capacity wrong can make the economics fall apart. Getting them right can let the building cut its heat carbon 70 to 90 percent while stabilising its running costs against a volatile gas market.
The commercial funding picture is also hard to navigate. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers non-domestic buildings as well as homes in England and Wales, but only as a flat grant per installation up to 45 kWth, so it suits small systems. Other routes are narrower: the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is for public bodies and is closed to new bids, the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund is closed, the Green Heat Network Fund is for heat networks (Round 12 closed on 25 September 2026), and capital allowances, including the Annual Investment Allowance, are tax reliefs on qualifying plant and machinery. Check gov.uk for the current position of each.
What to ask an installer
Look for an installer whose engineers are MCS and F-Gas certified, with Gas Safe registration for hybrid plant rooms where a peaking boiler stays in place, and NICEIC registration for the electrical work. Ask whether they are manufacturer-independent and will model air-source and ground-source side by side from your data, recommending the system that suits your building and not the one they would prefer to sell. Where a building genuinely needs high flow temperatures, a good installer will say so and propose a high-temperature unit or a hybrid design rather than pretend a standard heat pump will cope.
Compliance is where corners get cut. For external air-source units, ask for a BS 4142 acoustic assessment so the unit will not fall foul of planning noise limits or disturb neighbours. Refrigerant work is handled under the UK F-Gas Regulation by certified engineers, and a good design allows for the newer lower-GWP and natural refrigerants the F-Gas phase-down is driving, including the DSEAR siting requirements that come with flammable refrigerants like R290.
Checking an installer's claims
A good installer will share the full running-cost and carbon model with you and welcome a stress-test or second opinion. They will plan changeovers around your operating calendar, never a peak-heat week, and on retrofits keep the existing boiler live through commissioning so you are never without heat. If your building does not suit a heat pump yet, they should say so and explain what would need to change first.