Famous hot springs to heat Bath Abbey

The state-of-the-art Bath Abbey is expecting some refurbishment works to install an eco-friendly system of heating by using the hot water from the local hot spring as part of the £19.3m Footprint refurbishment project.

Currently, contractors are surveying the great Roman drain which carries hot water to direct some of the heat towards the Victorian Gothic structure. When the energy from the spring is harnessed and converted, it has the potential to produce 1.5MW of continuous energy to support a ground source heat pump system.

The director of the refurbishment project, Alix Gilmer, said: "The abbey's Victorian heating system is sadly outdated, inefficient and expensive to maintain. This combined with the work we're doing as part of our Footprint project to repair the abbey's collapsing floor makes this the ideal times for us to install a new underfloor heating system and is a truly exciting way of using Bath's most famous resource to create sustainable energy.

The Footprint project also involves:

• creating new spaces for all - making the Abbey more accessible by providing modern meeting, catering and toilet facilities;
• enriching worship - providing a more comfortable worshipping space and building a new Song School;
• repairing the Abbey floor; and
• retelling the ancient story - creating a Discovery Centre that will tell the history and the story of the Abbey.