Underfloor Heating, Kitchen Extension, Wilmslow

A large modern kitchen extension in Wilmslow, SK9, where the owners wanted complete heating integration across a 60-sqm open-plan structural extension — and strong, simultaneous hot water across three luxury bathrooms with no drop in pressure. We designed the whole system in-house, starting with a genuine room-by-room heat loss calculation following BS EN 12831 methodology that accounted for the extension’s large glazed areas, floor construction and insulation values, so the pipe spacing, flow temperature and manifold configuration were sized precisely for the space rather than to a generic spec. The underfloor heating was laid as a wet in-screed system: insulation boards and edge expansion foam first, then the pipe circuits secured at the calculated spacing and run back to a multi-zone manifold with individual actuators, so the open-plan space and adjoining areas can each be controlled independently. Every circuit was pressure-tested at 6 bar and left under pressure through the screed pour, with a signed test certificate for building control. Alongside the underfloor heating we installed a high-pressure unvented hot water cylinder sized to supply three bathrooms running at once without any loss of pressure, and tied the whole system back to the heat source at second fix. Commissioning involved tuning each manifold flow meter to its circuit length so every zone delivers its calculated output at the lowest efficient flow temperature. The manifold installation and pipe layout before the screed went down was a genuinely satisfying piece of engineering — the overhead layout matrix showing the pipe spacing pre-pour is a thing of beauty, and the finished space now heats beautifully and evenly without a single visible radiator.