Clean, filtered, pre‑heated fresh air — with the heat kept inside the building.
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery
MVHR works quietly and continuously, delivering what is arguably the single most beneficial system any modern home or workplace can have: clean, filtered, pre‑heated fresh air, with dramatically reduced heat loss.
While MVHR still feels new to much of the UK construction industry, it is not new to us. We were installing it as standard in new‑build projects more than 25 years ago. Adoption has been painfully slow, and even today many construction professionals still misunderstand how it works, or why it matters.
Every building needs controlled ventilation. A sealed building with no air movement develops stale air, high humidity, condensation, mould and, in time, fabric decay. Bathrooms, kitchens and utility rooms generate moisture, smells and pollutants.
Extractor fans remove some of it — and dump warm air straight outside. Fresh air then arrives through trickle vents, uncontrolled openings that pull cold air in, making rooms feel colder and pushing heating costs up. Extractor fans and open vents together mean uncontrolled ventilation, wasted heat and higher bills.
What it does
The exchange is typically 70–95% efficient, depending on the unit and the design. By doing away with trickle vents and extractor fans, MVHR can cut a property's heating demand by around 20% while transforming the quality of the air inside it.
The benefits
Ducting
The biggest worry people have about MVHR is where the ducting goes. Whatever the building's type, age or complexity, it goes somewhere. We use three approaches, and the building decides which — not a preference list.
Traditional steel ducting: robust, hygienic and long‑lasting, with excellent airflow and minimal resistance. Ideal for a whole project, or for the main supply and extract routes and the plant room. Its lack of flexibility can be restrictive in a tight retrofit.
Dave’s own preference where space allows, for its quality, longevity and predictable performance.
Hygienic semi‑rigid duct running from a distribution box or manifold to each room. Smooth internal bores keep noise down and airflow up, and it is compact and flexible enough to work its way through joists, floors, ceilings and tight retrofit spaces.
Flexible to install, with consistent and repeatable results.
Steel spiral for the main trunks, semi‑rigid from the distribution boxes out to individual rooms. A hybrid works well where space is tight but airflow performance still matters.
Chosen for practicality rather than compromise.
Design, supply, installation, commissioning
Every system we design is led by Dave, with 25 years of MVHR design and installation behind him and a certified Passive House designer's training. That experience is what keeps our duct layouts efficient, quiet, practical and cost‑effective.
Alongside our own installations we offer full system design, supply of all equipment and ducting, on‑site guidance during early‑stage construction, and professional commissioning — the step semi‑professionals routinely leave out.
Commissioning is what makes the system deliver the supply and extract rates it was designed for, meets Passive House principles where they apply, and matches the property's size, layout and occupancy. If your needs change later, the settings can be adjusted to suit.
Heating through the ventilation
Some MVHR units actively heat the incoming air, usually with a small integrated air‑source heat pump. In a highly efficient home that can do away with a traditional heating system altogether.
We also design recirculation and heat‑exchange systems, where MVHR distributes heat generated elsewhere — by a heat pump, a direct electric heater or a pellet stove. Excess heat from a single appliance can be spread through the whole house by a controlled recirculation design.
One of our Edinburgh test rigs uses a thermostatically controlled low‑energy Zehnder inline fan to draw warm air from a high‑level living space and feed it back into the MVHR distribution manifold. It stops the source room overheating and spreads that warmth evenly through the bedrooms.
Tell us about the building — new‑build, retrofit or somewhere in between — and we will tell you what it needs.
