Air source heat pumps for the Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders run from the edge of Edinburgh down to the English border, with Galashiels, Hawick, Kelso and Peebles as the main towns. The landscape is rolling hills and river valleys — the Tweed, the Teviot, the Yarrow — with traditional stone-built farmhouses and steadings scattered across the countryside. The building stock is predominantly solid stone, with properties ranging from Borders tower houses converted to homes to Victorian farmsteads and modern rural builds.

Rural Borders has a high proportion of off-gas properties. The gas grid reaches the larger towns, but the farms and rural settlements across the hills rely on oil or LPG. Oil boilers are the standard heating source for isolated Borders properties, with tanks in the farmyard or garden. Replacing oil with an air source heat pump is a well-proven upgrade in this area, and the existing pipework and radiators can often be retained with selective upgrades.

SP Energy Networks is the distribution network operator for the Borders. Most rural properties have a single-phase supply adequate for a domestic heat pump. The climate is relatively sheltered compared to the Highlands — the Borders hills are lower, and the east coast influence keeps winters moderate. Heat pump efficiency is good, with the system running at lower flow temperatures for most of the heating season. The Tweed valley in particular has a mild microclimate that suits heat pumps well.

The survey is on site, not from a desk. The surveyor measures every room, checks the wall types, loft insulation, existing radiators and pipework, and the electrical supply. The room-by-room heat loss calculation determines the system size, and the fixed written quote itemises every change — the MCS-listed heat pump model, radiator upgrades, hot water cylinder, pipe runs, and any electrical work. Properties in the more exposed upland areas around Peebles or the Yarrow valley may need larger radiators than those in Galashiels or Kelso, and the quote reflects this precisely. We install through MCS-certified partners.

Towns we cover: Galashiels, Kelso, Peebles, Hawick, Melrose, Jedburgh