Newmill, New Solution!

‘It’s nae every day we hae a big crane in the village.’ 

Said one Newmill resident last week. The occasion was the arrival of the new prefabricated boilerhouse which will see wood chips heating the village hall and primary school at Newmill, just north of the town of Keith in Banffshire. 

While I had been expecting the boilerhouse to be delivered for a while, watching it placed precisely on the concrete plinth and connected-up to the pipes and power cable was still a very pleasing sight. You can see its arrival too by watching on You Tube. The link to Mrs Lovie’s video is here. I think the children will remember the day for a long while. 

As they say in the Doric, ‘It’s been a lang dreel and its nae deen yet’. Local folk have long wanted to upgrade the heating in the hall, and start off a mini-district heating scheme. Arranging the permissions and agreeing with Moray Council that the school could be connected - and would purchase the heat from the new boiler - took a sustained effort. On the funding side, a mix of CARES and British Gas Green Streets meant the order could be placed and work commenced last year. 

Doing anything in Moray is a challenge. Whether it is trying to dig- up roads or lay concrete in an extended period of harsh winter weather, or the challenges of showing the authorities that a new method of heating will work in Moray, the Newmill Hall Management Committee should be pleased with their success. 

The smart pre-fabricated boilerhouse, complete with a Froeling boiler, was assembled in Fort William. The container was pre-clad in local larch to enhance its appearance. The area around the boilerhouse was upgraded. The concrete plinth laid. Underground insulated heat pipes were all ready to accept the boilerhouse when it arrived. Heat exchangers in the hall and in the school will draw heat from hot water circulated from the boiler. It won’t be long before the boiler is lit and the buildings – and their users including the pre-school playgroup – start to feel the benefit. 

So, it is a first for Newmill, for Keith and Banffshire; a community group producing heat from local woodchip, to use in their hall and to sell to the local authority. As with so many groups that Community Energy Scotland assists, once they have a taste of success they often have an appetite for more!  One thing is certain, it won’t be the last time we have something to learn from Newmill.