The Heating Failed. The Community Nearly Went With It.
How Pinxton Miners Welfare saved a century-old building, and the community that needs it.
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independently controlled
Total installed heating capacity
Manufacturer warranty
Year the Welly first opened
The aim of this project is to bring this wonderful building back into full usage. It used to play a central role in the community and I hope this work will help it to play that role again.
Sound familiar?
The chairs sat empty. The concert hall stood silent. Groups that had met every week for decades quietly stopped coming.
Nobody made a formal decision to close the Pinxton Miners Welfare Institute. It just got too cold to use.
Opened on 23 May 1925, the Welly had been the beating heart of Pinxton village for a century, hosting football teams, drama groups, pigeon clubs, mother and baby sessions, line dancing, and more. But a failing heating system had made the building increasingly uncomfortable. Draughty
spaces in winter. No control over which rooms were warm. Energy bills climbing for a building that felt emptier every year.
The problem wasn’t a lack of community need. It was a lack of warmth.
Sarah Andrews, Director of Pinxton Miners Welfare, knew that without a proper solution, the building’s long-term future was at risk. She spent months navigating grant applications with support from CISWO and the committee, securing funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO), and the Blakemore Foundation.
The next challenge was to spend that money on a system that would actually solve the problem, for good.
The challenge
The real cost of inadequate heating
Most building managers focus on the boiler. The real damage is what happens around it.
Empty rooms cost money, even when no one’s in them
Traditional heating systems treat a building as a single space. Heat the boiler, heat everything, whether occupied or not. The Welfare was paying to warm rooms that nobody was using, while the rooms people actually needed remained uncomfortable.
Cold buildings lose bookings. They rarely get them back.
When a group moves to another venue because yours is too cold, they don’t always return. The social infrastructure around a community building, the regular groups, the events, the habits, takes years to build and can collapse quickly. Every cancelled booking is a relationship at risk.
Doing nothing is still a decision
Every winter without a proper solution is another cycle of empty rooms, dwindling usage, and growing reputational damage. The building doesn’t close overnight. It fades. And by the time the problem feels urgent, the community has already drifted.
A concert hall takes more than one unit to heat properly
Large, high-ceilinged spaces require properly sized equipment. Underpowered heating leaves cold spots that members notice immediately and remember. Smart Projects specified two 14kW ceiling cassette units for the concert hall alone to ensure even, reliable coverage.
Making this building safe and comfortable means more people will use it. I am so grateful to Sarah and the committee, who have remained committed to securing the future of the Welfare and ensuring it remains open and usable by the local community.
The solution
Smart Projects installed a phased air-to-air heat pump system giving the Welfare something it had never had before: the ability to heat each room independently, on demand, without wasting energy on the spaces no one is using.
Each system provides heating, cooling, and dehumidification from a single installation. Premium models also include active air sanitisation. The Concert Hall, Main Bar, and Lounge were all covered in Phase 1, with each zone independently controlled by wireless remote.
Installation was programmed around club operations. A technical survey and health and safety visit were completed first. Each indoor unit was installed within one to two days per room.
Phase 1 equipment:
• Concert Hall: 2 × 14kW ceiling cassettes (specialist access equipment included)
• Main Bar: 1 × 14kW ceiling cassette + 1 × 3.5kW mini cassette
• Lounge: 1 × 14kW ceiling cassette
• Full electrical installation: connection, testing and certification by certified contractor
• Black trunking and cable tray work throughout
• Wireless remote control per system
• Full commissioning, functional testing and handover
• 10-year manufacturer parts warranty, included
All equipment is maintained twice yearly by Smart Projects in line with UK F-Gas regulations, a condition of keeping the 10-year warranty valid. Servicing costs are spread monthly by direct debit, making it straightforward to budget throughout the year.
The result
The Welly is warm. The rooms people actually use are the rooms that get heated. The building that nearly faded into closure now has a heating system that will serve it for the next decade and beyond.
Phase 2, covering the office, toilets, and remaining areas, has been designed and is ready to proceed when further funding is in place.
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