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Radiant Tube Heating System Installation - Sports Hall Heating Upgrade in Wells
Overview
A school in Wells required an urgent heating upgrade after the existing blown air heating system serving its sports hall failed completely at a critical point in the academic calendar.
The failure occurred shortly before mock examinations and during a period of heavy sports hall usage, creating a significant risk to student comfort, teaching activities and extracurricular programmes. The existing system had reached the end of its serviceable life and could no longer provide the reliability, efficiency or performance required by the school.
The school's objective was clear: replace the ageing heating system with a modern, energy-efficient solution capable of delivering consistent comfort, reducing operating costs and supporting year-round use of the facility.
Following a full assessment, we designed and installed a high-level radiant tube heating system specifically suited to large open spaces such as sports halls, providing a reliable and future-proof heating solution.
The Challenge
The sports hall's original blown air heating system had become increasingly unreliable and inefficient over time.
Like many large educational facilities, the building required a heating system capable of delivering responsive, even warmth across a large open space while remaining cost-effective to operate.
The existing system presented several challenges:
- Uneven heat distribution across the sports hall
- Slow response times during colder periods
- Increasing maintenance requirements and reliability concerns
- High energy consumption and poor operating efficiency
- Obsolete equipment with limited long-term support options
- The need to complete the project without disrupting school activities
With mock examinations approaching and the sports hall heavily used throughout the school week, the heating failure required a solution that could be delivered quickly while providing long-term reliability.
In school environments, heating failures can impact far more than comfort alone. Sports halls often support PE lessons, examinations, assemblies, extracurricular clubs and community use, making reliable heating an important part of maintaining normal school operations.
Our Solution
Following a review of the building and its usage requirements, we recommended the installation of a high-level radiant tube heating system.
Radiant tube heaters are particularly effective in large, high-ceiling spaces such as sports halls because they warm people and surfaces directly, rather than trying to heat the full volume of air. This helps improve comfort, reduce heat loss and provide a faster response when the hall is in use.
A Powrmatic radiant tube heating system was selected and configured across two long runs to maximise coverage and performance while integrating with the existing lighting and sports hall infrastructure.
The solution was designed to provide:
- Consistent comfort across the sports hall
- Faster warm-up times when heating was required
- Improved energy efficiency compared with the ageing blown air system
- Reduced heat loss in a high-ceiling environment
- Lower long-term maintenance requirements
- Reliable operation for daily school use
By selecting radiant heating technology, the school gained a more responsive and efficient heating solution that was better suited to the building's operational requirements.
Compliance & Qualifications
All works were carried out by fully qualified engineers and completed in accordance with relevant commercial gas, heating and safety standards.
Our qualifications and compliance standards include:
- Gas Safe Registered (Commercial & Domestic)
- Commercial Gas Qualifications (CODNCO1, COCN1, TPCP1/1A)
- IPAF (International Powered Access Federation) qualified engineers
- Compliance with Health & Safety at Work Act requirements
- Compliance with Education Sector Standards
The installation was delivered in accordance with applicable commercial gas and heating regulations, ensuring the school received a fully compliant and professionally installed heating solution.
Working Within School Environments
Schools need contractors who understand compliance, safeguarding, communication and the need to minimise disruption around pupils, staff and site operations.
Our approach includes:
- All our engineers are fully qualified and have an advanced DBS
- Clear communication with site teams and decision-makers
- Planned scheduling around school operations where possible
- Compliance documentation to support audit and internal record keeping
- Practical reporting to help sites understand priorities
- Maintenance planning that supports safe, warm and operational learning environments
We work closely with schools to schedule disruptive works during holiday periods wherever possible, while also planning carefully around live term-time environments so essential works can be completed safely, efficiently and with minimal disruption.
Delivery & Results
This installation was completed during the Christmas holiday period, ensuring the school returned after the break with a fully operational heating system and no disruption to teaching, examinations or sports activities.
The project included:
- Safe removal and replacement of the existing heating system
- Installation of the new Powrmatic radiant tube heating system
- High-level installation using specialist access equipment
- Testing, commissioning and performance verification
- Full compliance and safety checks prior to handover
The completed installation delivered:
- Consistent and comfortable heating across the sports hall
- Improved energy efficiency compared with the previous system
- Reliable system performance with modern controls
- Reduced maintenance requirements
- Minimal visual impact through high-level installation
- Seamless integration with existing building infrastructure
The school now benefits from a dependable, modern heating solution designed specifically for the demands of a busy educational environment.
What Schools Can Learn From This
This project demonstrates the importance of reviewing ageing heating infrastructure before reliability issues become operational problems.
While older systems may continue running for some time, they often become less efficient, less responsive and more expensive to maintain before they fail completely. In busy school environments, that can affect lessons, examinations, clubs and wider facility use.
Key lessons from this project include:
- Ageing heating systems can become inefficient before complete failure occurs
- Sports halls require heating solutions designed specifically for large open spaces
- Radiant heating can be well suited to high-ceiling environments
- Planned holiday-period works can minimise disruption to teaching and school activities
- Education-sector heating projects require both technical expertise and careful operational planning
For schools, academy trusts and estates teams, planned heating upgrades can help improve comfort, reliability and long-term budget confidence.
View more schools and education projects.
Looking for a Commercial Heating Upgrade?
If your school, academy trust or commercial facility is experiencing heating reliability issues, rising energy costs or ageing infrastructure concerns, we can help.
Our team specialises in commercial heating upgrades, sports hall heating systems and energy-efficient heating solutions designed around the needs of educational environments.
