What Heating Options Are Best for Edinburgh Flats and Tenements?

Edinburgh flats are not all the same

Not all flats in Edinburgh are the same. Tenements are not always the same type of property, for example a ground floor main door flat in Morningside with its own private garden can be a very different type of heating job from say a third floor flat in Marchmont with a shared back green, and a more modern apartment say in Leith is different again.

Then you also have things like the following:

• old sandstone buildings
• listed properties
• conservation areas
• flats with combi boilers
• flats with old storage heaters
• flats with no wet central heating at all

So the first question to ask shouldn't be "What's the best heating system?" but rather something more like "What's the best heating system for this flat?" which is a much better place to start.

If a heat pump works, it can still be a very good option

If a heat pump is suitable for your flat then it's a great option, but it isn't always the best option because not all air source heat pumps work in flats and tenements.

So it's important that the property suits the system. The variables that we would be looking at for a suited heat pump system would be the following:

• a suitable placement outside for the unit
• an existing wet radiator system
• reasonable heat loss
• room for hot water storage
• a straightforward planning position

Ground floor flats and main door flats with private outdoor space tend to be easier, whereas upper tenements and protected buildings become more complicated. However, these don't always rule out heat pumps, it just means that there are more things to check. I go through these checks in detail in the following article: Can You Install a Heat Pump in an Edinburgh Tenement?

If the property is suitable, a heat pump can still be a good long-term heating option.

What if the heat pump is nearly suitable?

There is also a middle ground. The property might not be a bad candidate. It might just have a few weak points.

Which could be things like:

• two radiators are too small
• the controls are poor
• the pipework needs work
• the flat loses too much heat through obvious draughts
• there is no sensible hot-water setup yet

These don't rule out a heat pump for the property.

Sometimes the best answer is to improve the heating system first.

Sort the radiators.

Fix the controls.

Deal with obvious heat loss. Then reassess it.

There is no point forcing the heat pump in before the rest of the system is ready.

A modern gas boiler may still be the practical option

This may not be the answer some people want to hear, but for some existing Edinburgh flats, a modern gas boiler is the more sensible option.

If the property already has:

• mains gas
• a wet central-heating system
• a combi boiler
• no easy place for an outdoor unit
• no cylinder space
• planning complications

then replacing the existing boiler may be the simplest practical route.

A replacement gas boiler is still allowed in a normal Scottish home built before 2024. The New Build Heat Standard applies to new buildings with building warrant applications from 1 April 2024, along with certain conversions. It does not generally apply to ordinary alterations or extensions on older properties.

Newer buildings and some conversions are a different matter, so I would not take that to mean a gas boiler can be fitted in every property simply because it is already standing.

A gas boiler might not be the best long term answer, but for some flats it is still the most practical one just now.

Think of a third-floor tenement for example, where a heat pump would mean planning issues, shared-property questions, a difficult pipe run and finding space for a hot-water cylinder in an already tight kitchen. You can't really ignore all that just because a heat pump is the newer option.

Sometimes the simpler job is the better one.

Boiler replacement can also buy time

A boiler replacement can also give you a bit of breathing room. The heating still needs sorted, but you are not forced into making every other improvement at the same time.

You could replace the boiler now, then deal with things like radiator sizes, controls, draughts or insulation over time. If the property becomes a better fit for a heat pump later, that option is still there.

It does not have to be a case of fitting another gas boiler and forgetting about heat pumps for good. Sometimes the flat just is not ready for one yet.

Electrically heated flats are a different job again

A lot of Edinburgh flats have storage heaters, panel heaters or direct electric heating, with no radiators and no gas supply at all. In that situation, fitting an air-to-water heat pump is not just a case of swapping one heating appliance for another. You may be looking at putting in a full wet heating system as well, with pipework and radiators throughout the flat.

That can make the job much bigger than people first expect.

It can still be worth doing in the right property.

But there are other options too.

Air-to-air heat pumps can suit some flats

An air-to-air heat pump heats the rooms directly instead of heating water for radiators.

The indoor unit blows warm air into the property.

That can make them useful in some smaller flats where there is no wet central-heating system.

They can also avoid some of the pipework needed for a normal radiator-based heat pump.

But they are not perfect.

Most domestic air-to-air systems do not deal with hot water.

So the homeowner still needs another way to heat:

• taps
• showers
• baths

The current Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan terms expressly exclude air-to-air heat pumps. Adding a separate hot-water system does not bring one into the scheme. Hybrid heat pumps are separately excluded too.

So I would not treat them as a straight replacement for an air-to-water system.

They are just another option worth looking at in the right flat.

What about storage heaters?

High-heat-retention storage heaters can still make sense in some electrically heated flats.

They charge using cheaper off-peak electricity and release that heat through the day.

Modern ones are a long way from the old storage heaters people remember from years ago.

They have better controls and are much easier to manage.

They are still electric resistance heating though.

So running costs can be higher than a well-designed heat pump.

That is why I would normally look at heat-pump options first.

But if a heat pump genuinely is not suitable, high-heat-retention storage heating can be a sensible fallback.

There is funding behind it too. Home Energy Scotland currently lists up to £2,500 as a grant towards high-heat-retention storage heaters, with an optional interest-free loan of up to £5,500 available on top. Funding is subject to the live terms, available budget and a written offer before work starts.

Because storage heaters sit under the scheme's energy-efficiency measures, the EPC submitted with the application must recommend them. You also have to evidence why a heat pump is not suitable. That evidence can come from an MCS-certified installer or an EPC showing that you live in a flat.

Being in a flat can therefore satisfy the heat-pump-unsuitability evidence. It does not make the funding automatic.

Direct electric heating is simple, but not always cheap to run

Panel heaters, electric radiators and infrared panels are easy to install.

That is the attraction.

No boiler.

No outdoor unit.

No wet pipework.

No cylinder.

For a very small flat with low heat demand, that simplicity can sometimes be worth considering.

The downside is the electricity bill.

Direct electric heating turns one unit of electricity into roughly one unit of heat.

A heat pump can move several units of heat into the home from one unit of electricity.

That is why direct electric heating can become expensive in a larger or poorly insulated flat.

So again, the property matters.

Sometimes the real answer is to improve the heating system

A lot of flats do not need a completely different heating system.

They need the existing one sorted.

That might mean:

• better heating controls
• thermostatic radiator valves
• proper system balancing
• larger radiators in problem rooms
• fixing poor pipework
• better zoning
• replacing an old inefficient boiler

This is not as exciting as fitting a new technology.

But it can make a huge difference.

If one bedroom has always been cold, the answer might not be a new heating system.

It might just have the wrong radiator in it.

It is easy to start discussing the expensive answer before checking the simple one.

What about communal heating for a whole tenement?

This is where things get more interesting.

Instead of every flat trying to install its own heat pump, a whole tenement can potentially use a shared heating system.

That could mean:

• a communal heat pump
• a heat network
• shared plant serving several flats

Scottish Government research into multiple-ownership buildings specifically considers shared heat-pump and heat-network options. A communal design may avoid every flat needing its own outdoor unit, but that does not make the project simple.

For some tenements, the more sensible route may be to look at the building as a whole rather than every flat trying to solve the same problem separately. That could mean a communal heat pump or another shared heating setup.

It is not an easy job though. You are then into shared ownership, cost splitting, maintenance, billing and getting several owners to agree. The heating system itself might actually be the easier part.

If a heat pump is not suitable now, it might be later

There is also no reason to treat a flat as permanently unsuitable just because a heat pump does not make sense today. Things change. Radiators can be upgraded, pipework can be improved, space can sometimes be found for hot-water storage, or agreement might be reached over shared outdoor space later on.

For some homes, it is simply a case of doing the obvious work first and looking at the heat pump again afterwards.

Listed buildings and conservation areas

Listed buildings and conservation areas need a bit more care again. A system that would be straightforward on a modern flat might become awkward if the outdoor unit is going onto a visible stone wall or the pipework needs to run across an elevation that the council wants protected.

That does not automatically rule the heat pump out, but where everything goes starts to matter a lot more. Sometimes moving the unit or changing the route of the pipework is enough. Other times a boiler ends up being the more practical answer.

Which option is cheapest?

Cost is another one that is difficult to answer without looking at the actual property.

A boiler may cost less to install, but that does not automatically make it the cheapest option over the life of the system. Direct electric heating is usually simple and fairly cheap to put in, but it can cost more to run. A heat pump costs more upfront in a lot of cases, although funding can change that quite a bit.

So I would not compare the systems on installation price alone.

What would I normally look at first?

Before recommending anything, I would want to know what is already heating the flat, whether there is gas, whether there are radiators, what condition the current system is in, where any outdoor equipment could go and whether there is room inside for hot-water storage.

The property itself usually narrows things down fairly quickly.

A ground-floor flat with a private garden and a wet heating system gives us a lot more options than a small upper-floor flat with direct electric heating and no outside space. Neither is necessarily better or worse, they are just completely different heating jobs.

That is really what the choice comes down to. Start with the flat and work backwards from there, rather than choosing the heating system first and then trying to make the property fit it.

So what is the best heating system for an Edinburgh flat?

There is no single winner.

For some flats, it will be an air source heat pump.

For others, a modern boiler is still the sensible option.

Electrically heated properties may suit air-to-air heat pumps, high-heat-retention storage heaters or another electric solution.

Some homes just need the existing heating system improved.

And some tenements may eventually be better served by communal heating instead of every flat trying to solve the problem separately.

The important thing is not forcing the property to fit the system.

It should be the other way round.

Not sure what your flat suits?

If you are in Edinburgh or the Lothians and you are replacing your heating, get in touch.

We can look at the property, the existing system and the practical side of the job before recommending what makes sense.

If a heat pump is right, we will tell you.

If a boiler is the better option, we will tell you that too.

And if the property needs some work before either of them makes sense, we would rather explain that at the start.

Book a free home survey or call us on 0131 644 0045.