Gas solution for Woodbrook homes

This week the first full natural gas connection at Woodbrook was completed and the firm are continuing the roll-out every day until the all the connections are complete.

Only half of the 400 expected homes were built at the local development, also known as the Eco Village, after the developer went into administration. Doubts have since been raised whether the biomass plant would ever have been financially viable.

Residents faced running costs for the wood-chip fuelled heating that are three and a half times those of natural gas.

Alastair Pollock, Business Development Director at Phoenix Natural Gas, said: “This was a very unique set of circumstances and Phoenix only agreed to help the residents by providing natural gas to them after lengthy one-on-one discussions with each individual homeowner, the Management company, local political representatives and legal advisers. The process of removing a biomass heating system and replacing it with natural gas is not an easy one. Since natural gas came to Northern Ireland in 1996 new build developments have almost exclusively been constructed using natural gas appliances where available.”

Residents have been in talks with Phoenix Natural Gas since August to explore the possibility of getting connected to the gas network. Residents overwhelmingly wanted natural gas as an alternative to Biomass.

A spokesman for Phoenix said that the bulk of the homes will have natural gas connections by the end of this autumn – well in advance of the core winter months.