Future-Ready Heating for a 12 Bedsit Renovation

Background

A smarter approach to modern rentals

We speak with Chris Honor, Honor Properties, an experienced landlord with a large UK property portfolio who has transformed his latest property into 12 short-term bedsits. His goal was to create future-ready living spaces for tenants that combine comfort, efficiency, and flexibility, without relying on traditional gas heating. They chose to install Herschel Comfort infrared heating panels, alongside solar energy, battery storage and electric water heating to deliver a fully-electric rental renovation.

“We’ve renovated this property over the last year… and we’re delighted with it.”

Hear firsthand from an experienced property landlord how infrared delivers room by room precise control, enhancing tenant comfort from a sleek, space-saving design.

Solution

Moving away from gas

With 12 individual bedsits and a consistent flow of short-term tenants, the landlord needed a solution that could:

  • Adapt to different tenant preferences on comfort;
  • Avoid wasted energy;
  • Maximise usable space;
  • Deliver fast, reliable heating.

Choosing to step away from gas was a difficult decision, it having been the default heating solution for so many for so long.

“That was quite a hard decision because everyone’s used to gas… but I felt this gave us more flexibility.”

Herschel Comfort infrared panels were installed throughout the property, mounted neatly on ceilings to optimise space. This allows for flexible layouts and cleaner, more modern interiors. and was one of the key attractions for Chris, having installed infrared elsewhere across his property portfolio.

Herschel Comfort panel heaters installed in 12 bedsit property renovation Herschel Comfort installed in a bathroom

The infrared system works alongside the solar panels, battery storage and electric water heating that has also been installed, creating a completely gas-free property.

“We’ve come away from gas boilers… and we’ve used your ceiling heaters…and they’re brilliant. I love them.”

Speed, control and efficiency

One of the standout benefits for the landlord was how quickly the system performs.

“You can walk in, be cold, and the room will be warm within five to ten minutes… with gas it can take thirty, forty, fifty minutes.”

Infrared heating for landlords

In a short-term rental environment, this is critical. Guests arrive at unpredictable times. The level of control available with infrared was another significant reason for choosing infrared.

“Each room can be programmed for its own heat… that’s possibly the biggest reason we went in this direction.”

With individual thermostats in every bedsit, tenants can set their preferred temperature, energy is only used when needed thereby avoiding wasted energy from heating unoccupied rooms.

“You don’t see heating being poured out the windows… the heating is being used wisely.”

Chris has installed Herschel Infrared heating across multiple sites, including London, Cheltenham and Bristol. Aesthetically, “you don’t know they’re there…people think they’re light”.

In addition, he has installed Krystal heaters in a London property, ceiling-recessing them to create a sleek, space-saving and contemporary design.

Seamless installation and support

Chris describes how the installation of the infrared panels proved very straightforward and how he values the support he has received since working with Herschel.

“You’ve been absolutely brilliant with us… always attentive.”

Choosing a UK-based manufacturer added another layer of confidence.

“I visited your factory… I was blown away… it’s amazing what’s being achieved.”

By switching to infrared and going fully electric, this landlord has created a property that is energy-efficient, future-ready, tenant-friendly and low maintenance.

The ideal heating for landlords - infrared

Testimonial

"We've been using you now for maybe five years and they're just great units".

We've renovated this property over the last year or so, and we've turned it into a selection of Airbnbs and short term lets. We're delighted with it. We've come away from gas boilers and we've used your lovely ceiling heaters and they're brilliant, I love them. We've used them in other developments . We've used them in a site in London. One in Cheltenham, one in Bristol. And it's just something that we decided to go down that route and we got rid of the gas boilers. That was quite a hard decision because everyone's used to gas, and it's the traditional way of doing it. But I felt as if this gave us a little bit more flexibility. They heat up the rooms really, really quickly. You can walk in, you can be cold and the room will be warm within five to ten minutes. The other big issue is that because they're planted on the ceilings or hung from the ceilings like we've done in this room, that means every single wall is free to put furniture up against it. Hang TVs where you want to put them. With rooms, small environments like this, it's really important to be able to put your furniture wherever you want to do that, and you don't lose a whole room. That was part of the attraction, obviously. Well, we've had these in another Airbnb, which was really positive. Really great to get feedback from your customers. You can walk in and there's nothing worse than walking into a cold room. We don't know very often what time our customers, our clients are turning up, if you've got twelve rooms like we have in this building, some people might like it hot. Some people like it cold. And very often when I drive past one of our buildings, I can see it's very hot in there, and they've got the windows open and the gas heating's blasting out, and some people have just got their windows open. So that money's being thrown away. And we've just had some solar panels fitted on this building. And it works really, really well with the two combinations. We've got some electric boilers which work in tandem with that. So we're completely gas free and that's improved our carbon footprint. The first electrician we used, he zapped them up. He's absolutely brilliant with them. He knows exactly what he's doing. He did them in London for us when they recessed them into the ceiling. He's done them in Cheltenham for us as well. And in Bristol, we used the electrician on this job and he found it really, really quite straightforward. I think obviously it needs two electricians maybe to do it, or two with a labourer, to suspend them from the ceiling because they are quite heavy. But it's not a problem at all. Once they're up, the fixtures are nice and secure and there's no issues with that. One of the other attractions, obviously, is the fact that you don't notice them. They just blend in with the room because they're white. They're on the ceilings. They disappear from view. Many people walk into rooms and wonder where the heating is and when they feel the warmth as they move around the room, they often ask what are those lights on the ceiling. They look very impressive. But to then inform them that they're actually the heating system is quite surprising to a lot of people. We've been using you now for maybe five years and they're just great units. We've got someone who looks after us called Jane. She's fabulous. She's always attentive. Herschel is a quality brand. You're probably the market leader at the moment in quality.  And we feel as if we're getting a huge benefit from it all. You've been absolutely brilliant with us.

Chris Honor Honor Properties

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