Packaged plant rooms and containerised hot water systems

Packaged plant rooms and hot water systems

A packaged plant room — or prefabricated plant room — is a commercial heating or hot water system built inside a waterproof cabinet before being shipped to site and connected.

Everything from main equipment to controls, pipework and electrical connections are installed and tested in our factory before we deliver the finished package to site.

We specialise in designing and manufacturing packaged plant rooms with commercial hot water systems for buildings across the UK. Our GRP enclosures are sized to suit your available site space and configured with the right plant — most commonly air source heat pumps, but electric and gas boilers are also used depending on your project situation.

Adveco Packaged Plant Room ASHP black hot water May 2022 20cms 300ddi copy

Awards & recognition

Industry award finals and wins for our packaged plant rooms, recognised for the work we put in behind the scenes.

Why opt for a packaged or containerised plant room?

Space is usually what settles it. Fit the boiler, calorifiers, pumps and controls into a single steel enclosure and you free up ground floor or roof space that a conventional plant room would otherwise take up. On a tight site, that can be the difference between a scheme that works and one that doesn’t.

Gain internal space

Installing your building services into a separate packaged plant room creates space where it did not exist. Reclaim operational space — extra classrooms in a school, extra capacity in a hotel, working space in an office. Our GRP enclosures are custom built so we can advise where best to place it.

No site restrictions on installation time

Because your plant room is built offsite there is no dependency on weather or site activity. Component delivery can be managed to fit around your main contractors — and if that window becomes unavailable, your plant room is safe from delays in our factory.

Quality manufacturing standards

Our packaged plant rooms are built to order in a controlled factory environment by specialist teams. Factory-built means extensive testing is completed before the unit even leaves the facility — so snagging on site should be minimal.

Reduced onsite labour

Your packaged plant room arrives almost fully connected — stainless steel pipework for heating circuits, copper for DHW, all controls and ancillaries fitted. Installing on site takes a skilled installer days rather than weeks. Less labour on site means lower costs and less risk.

Made to measure plant rooms

While our PPR0007 and PPR0008 units cover most bases, Adveco also designs and manufactures bespoke packaged plant rooms for large-scale or specialised projects. Our qualified MEP designers oversee the process from beginning to end — one point of accountability, no need to manage multiple contractors.

Plant rooms can be configured with:

ASHP pre-heat coupled with electric or gas hot water boilers
Solar thermal where roof space allows
Gas boilers where the site is on mains supply
Hybrid ASHP/electric systems designed not to exceed the building’s EV supply capacity
Stainless steel or carbon steel storage vessels dependent on water type
Any additional controls or BMS interfacing required

Packaged plant rooms for hot water systems:

the PPR range Adveco has a range of standard packaged plant rooms designed to house our pre-engineered electric hot water systems built around FUSION hybrid water heating technology.

Packaged plant room with electric hot water: PPR0007

The PPR0007 is a compact unit shipping with a 24kW Ardent electric boiler feeding a 210 litre stainless steel ATSI hot water cylinder, plus a 9kW backup immersion heater. Ideal for hotels, restaurants, offices and schools.

Designed to be upgraded — start with a cost-effective all-electric system, then add an air source heat pump at a later date without replacing the entire plant room.

Boiler output
24kW Ardent electric

Storage
210 litres stainless steel

Backup immersion
9kW

Packaged plant room with ASHP and electric hot water: PPR0008

PPR0008 adds a 10kW ADVS-W air source heat pump to the PPR0007 configuration, providing pre-heat for up to 70% of your DHW demand. This dramatically cuts carbon emissions and running costs.

Adveco calculated the PPR0008 can produce a 47% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to a direct electric-only installation providing an equivalent annual quantity of hot water.

ASHP
10kW ADVS-W

Boiler output
12kW Ardent PI2

Storage
420 litres (dual ATSI)

CO₂ saving
47% vs direct electric

EDUCATION

Whether a school campus is short on internal room or falls into the limited site access category, we can help meet term time deadlines with an offsite solution.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Reliability and built-in redundancy are key. Adveco can ship your packaged plant room directly to site for rapid installation by our team to meet critical demand.

HOTELS

Hotels have increasingly diversified, from providing high end dining experiences to swimming pools, spa and gym facilities. These functions significantly widen demands for heating and hot water.

RESTAURANTS, CATERING & HOSPITALITY

High-recovery, reliable hot water that can be scaled based on demand. Our packaged electric or hybrid systems sit in a sleek GRP cabinet for new build or refurb.

NEW BUILD CONSTRUCTION

Packaged plant rooms allow M&E contractors to separate their installation programme from works on site — taken care of independently, without site dependencies.

COMMERCIAL AND OFFICES

Perfectly suited to new build or older properties being converted into commercial spaces that simply lack room for a traditional plant room installation.

Frequently asked questions

What is a packaged plant room?

In its simplest form a packaged plant room is a standalone commercial heating or hot water system which has been pre-assembled inside a waterproof enclosure. Everything from main appliances to controls and pipework are installed inside our factory before delivery to site. The term packaged plant room is also referred to as a containerised plant room or prefabricated plant room — they are essentially the same thing.

What is the difference between a packaged and a containerised plant room?

There is no technical difference. Where ‘containerised plant room’ tends to be used more frequently is where a converted shipping container or a durable custom GRP enclosure is used as the main housing. Containerised plant rooms are also more likely to be a temporary, hired measure — as opposed to permanently installed systems like Adveco’s packaged plant rooms.

How much do packaged plant rooms cost?

Yes. Adveco’s large commercial electric boilers range from 60kW to 100kW and are designed with large commercial buildings in mind. By installing multiple electric boilers in your plant room you can achieve the total output you require while also building in redundancy: if one boiler fails, the others continue operating. These systems are used in hotels, hospitals and schools as both direct electric replacements for gas boilers and as backups to heat pumps.

Can I have an air source heat pump inside a packaged plant room?

How much you save by upgrading an old water heater to a new condensing model will depend on your existing equipment, current gas prices and how much hot water your installation uses on average. For larger commercial buildings running a water heater continuously, Adveco estimates savings of £220,000+ over the lifetime of the equipment when compared to a 25 year old non-condensing model.

Get in touch and we will assess your current water heater at no charge and give you an accurate estimate of your potential savings.

Are there any benefits to having my plant room constructed offsite?

Strictly speaking, a commercial boiler is something that heats water and feeds it into a heating circuit. closed loop systems that use a boiler as their baseline heat source. A commercial electric water heater is more commonly used to refer to DHW production specifically.

As heating and hot water become more interlinked throughout UK buildings, the line between them blurs. Many commercial boilers can produce domestic hot water with the right controls, and that includes Adveco’s ARDENT electric boiler.

If you are having trouble deciding which product suits your project, get in touch. Our technical team will make sure you choose the right electric product for your requirements.

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Why Choose Adveco

50 Years

Adveco Ltd. is the independent hot water specialist for the commercial built environment and has historically traded as A.O. Smith Water Heaters in the UK.