With the ever-increasing pressure to improve energy efficiency, car manufacturers are leading by example in the UK.

Plant Oxford — the production site for the iconic Mini car brand — has undergone significant development over the years, and steam specialist Spirax Sarco (www.spiraxsarco.com) was recently called in to transform its hot-water generation system and deliver enhanced operational and energy savings.

Angelo Giambrone, business development manager at Spirax Sarco, said: “The existing installation comprised three large shell and tube calorifiers.

Traditionally, calorifiers were a popular way to deliver hot water, but there has been a great deal of development with steam-to-hot-water systems in recent years, which has helped to improve their efficiency and safety.

"The old units were mounted at high level, which made maintenance a consistent challenge, and the best course ofaction was to remove them.

They were replaced by high-efficiency EasiHeat systems, which use the latest in plate heat-exchange technology.

“As each EasiHeat is a pre-fabricated package, installation was simple. The smaller footprint has allowed the new units to be sited in a practical location at ground level.

“They are also not subject to the same strip-down pressure testing as the shell and tube systems, so there are both operational and maintenance savings.”