Crealy Theme Park & Resort

The Client

Crealy Theme Park & Resort is an award-winning family theme park is set in the glorious East Devon countryside and boasts over 60 rides and attractions, plus spectacular live entertainment shows and animals.

The Park and its Resort is Devon’s biggest family theme park and has been voted the South West’s number one family day out 7 years running, offering the ultimate Devon family holiday with a choice of accommodation ranging from touring and camping pitches to luxury glamping cabins and five-star luxury hot tub lodges.

The huge indoor play areas and indoor attractions at Crealy Theme Park & Resort, cover over 85,000sq. ft, so there’s fun to be had whatever the weather.

Located just minutes off Junction 30 of the M5, Exeter and with plenty of free parking, the park has everything a family could want from a premier attraction in Devon.

The Challenge

Initially, IU Energy were asked to extend the biomass heat and hot water distribution system from two shower blocks and a camp reception area, to an additional thirty lodges – a widespread requirement with very complex heat-loss calculations, metering and control challenges. As a baseline figure, we were made aware by the owner that the measured efficiency of the system was currently only 65%.

We quickly assessed that not only was a cross-site improvement required, but that administrating and reading thirty additional heat meters would be punitive both financially and in time, so a centralised control system was advised.

The additional challenge was that the upgrades had to be installed out-of-season and be ready in time for the first holiday influx to Crealy Theme Park & Resort.

The Solution

After extensive heat-loss calculations, IU Energy installed highly efficient underground pipe works of up to 200 metre runs to the lodges and a sophisticated remote-control and monitoring system. Along with a range of other improvements to the existing plant, we fitted a demand related variable volume and temperature system, replacing the existing, inefficient constant volume and temperature set-up.

It also became apparent that a new method of measuring system generation was required and thus a new application to OFGEM was made. This was something undertaken by IU Energy in-house specialists and submitted on behalf of our client.

The application was accepted and the RHI calculation and payback changed accordingly.

The Results

With the extensive and complex changes to distribution, control and metering, Crealy Theme Park & Resort not only extended their existing plant delivery capability to cover thirty-three buildings over a widespread site, but also saw the calculated system efficiency jumping from 65% to 95%, with a resultant uplift of 30% in RHI payments.

These improvements also reduced the operational burden by an order of magnitude.