West Midlands renewable energy company Zeuner has installed a tailored heat pump system at The Apex, a live music and entertainment centre in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The replacement addressed an obsolete roof-mounted system while avoiding the need to crane equipment into the venue. Zeuner built a carbon copy of the installation space at its Coventry workshop, assembled the new system to the required dimensions, then dismantled it for transport and installation. The work was designed to save the venue time and money while providing a more efficient heat pump design.

A Challenging Roof Replacement

The Apex forms part of the Arc shopping centre development, which was built on a former cattle market site in 2009. The venue was constructed with state-of-the-art acoustics, making access and construction work around the building especially important.

The existing heat pump system was housed on the roof, where conventional replacement methods were not suitable. This created a practical challenge for the project: the new equipment needed to be brought to the roof without crane access and installed in a way that worked with the building’s physical constraints.

Rather than treating the site limitations as a reason to rely on a standard system, Zeuner developed a bespoke route for the replacement. The company recreated the relevant space in its Coventry workshop, allowing the design and construction work to take place before equipment reached the theatre.

Built Off Site

Creating a replica of the installation area allowed Zeuner to make the heat pump system to the exact dimensions of the structure. Once complete, the system was taken apart into sections that could be transported to The Apex and moved into place by the installation team.

This approach placed much of the construction work in a controlled workshop environment rather than at an operational entertainment venue. It also reduced the need for on-site assembly around the roof area, supporting a more managed installation process.

Chris Reilly, Founder at Zeuner, said:

“It was a massive undertaking to take out the old system and install the more efficient design in its place. In understanding we could not crane in, we designed the system to be dismantled in manageable sections and hauled up ourselves.

The result has been a significant cost saving, and de-risking of the operational building, as the build took place off site in our controlled and managed purpose environment.”

Tailored Systems For Buildings

The project illustrates the role that tailored heat pump systems can play where a building’s design, access arrangements or operational requirements make a standard installation unsuitable. At The Apex, the replacement was shaped by the roof location and the need to work around an established live music and entertainment centre.

Zeuner’s approach is based on designing equipment for the available real estate rather than fitting a standardised system into a space with different proportions. The company states that a consultative heat pump solution can meet building load requirements, save money over time and support organisations’ sustainability and corporate social responsibility obligations.

Tailored projects may also reduce material use where a standardised system would not be optimised for the dimensions of a building. Zeuner states that the process may offer tax incentives and usually bypasses planning permission requirements.

Chris Reilly, Founder at Zeuner, added:

“There is also less wastage for tailored systems because standardised systems are not optimised for the building’s proportions, whereas Zeuner systems are built to the real estate from the start and use less material as a result,”

Supporting Operational Venues

For venues such as The Apex, building services upgrades must work around the practical realities of an operational site. The project shows how off-site construction and sectional installation can help address access constraints without relying on a conventional crane lift.

The completed installation replaces an obsolete heat pump system with a more efficient design while retaining a focus on the venue’s existing structure. Zeuner’s work at The Apex offers an example of how renewable energy infrastructure can be adapted to individual buildings, particularly where roof access and site conditions require a more considered design.