Heat Pumps Truro: Air Source Installation, Grants & Planning

Heat pumps in Truro go into a wider mix of homes than almost anywhere else in Cornwall: listed Georgian terraces on Lemon Street and in Ferris Town, estates such as Trelander and Malabar, detached homes in Kenwyn and Highertown, and villages on the edge of the city such as Threemilestone and Shortlanesend. CCS Heating & Renewables is an MCS-certified heat pump installer based at Pool Business Park near Redruth, about 8 miles west of the city, and we survey, design and install air source heat pumps across the TR1, TR3 and TR4 postcodes.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants for Truro homes in 2026

The grant is claimed by your MCS-certified installer and deducted from the invoice. The £9,000 figure is the standard £7,500 plus an extra £1,500 that GOV.UK lists as available until March 2027 where a property is heated by oil or LPG and has no mains gas connection. Loft and cavity wall insulation stopped being a precondition in May 2024, and a heat pump installed in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, after which the 5% reduced rate applies (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6). New-build homes are outside the scheme unless they are self-builds. See our full Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide for Cornwall.

Lower-income households may also be able to get heating and insulation work through the government's Warm Homes: Local Grant, which is arranged through the council: household income usually has to be £36,000 a year or less, the home must be privately owned or privately rented, and it needs an EPC rating of D to G.

What a heat pump costs in Truro

Guide prices include VAT at 0%. Where a price lands in that range depends on the heat loss of the house, the size of cylinder, how many radiators need upsizing and how far the outdoor unit sits from the plant room. You get a fixed quote after the survey.

Planning permission for a heat pump in Truro

Since 29 May 2025 an air source heat pump on a house in England is usually permitted development under Class G of Part 14 of the General Permitted Development Order. The limits are one unit on a terraced or semi-detached house and two on a detached house, an outdoor unit of no more than 1.5 cubic metres, and compliance with the MCS 020 a) planning standard, which sets a noise limit of 37.0 dB(A) at the assessment position outside a neighbour's window or door. The old rule that a unit had to stand a metre from the boundary has gone, and ground source heat pumps are permitted development without these limits. Two things change the answer in Truro:

• The city conservation area. Truro's conservation area takes in the historic centre, including Lemon Street. Inside a conservation area a heat pump is not permitted development on a wall or roof that fronts a highway, or where it would sit nearer a highway than the house itself — so on a street-facing terrace the outdoor unit normally goes to the rear.
• Listed buildings. Class G does not apply to a listed building or anything within its curtilage. Many houses on Lemon Street and in Ferris Town are listed, so those installations need planning permission, plus listed building consent where the work affects the building's character — a new pipe route through a historic wall, for example.

Which Truro homes suit which set-up

• City-centre and conservation-area terraces: a rear position for the outdoor unit, a planning or listed building consent application where the siting needs one, and a room-by-room heat loss calculation — older rooms often need larger radiators because a heat pump runs at a lower flow temperature than a boiler.
• Estate houses such as Trelander and Malabar: usually a single-unit permitted development installation on a terraced or semi-detached house, provided the noise assessment passes at the neighbouring windows.
• Detached homes in Kenwyn, Highertown and Malpas: permitted development allows up to two units, which gives more freedom over where the equipment goes.
• Villages around the city: if your home has no gas main and runs on oil or LPG, you are in the £9,000 band until March 2027.
• Langarth Garden Village: the garden village on the north-western edge of Truro was granted planning permission for around 3,550 homes in 2021. Homes bought new there are outside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which excludes new builds other than self-builds.

Connecting a heat pump to the grid in Truro

Truro is on National Grid Electricity Distribution's network. Heat pump installations are registered with the network operator, and at the survey we check the incoming supply, the main fuse and whether the property shares a looped service cable with a neighbour, because each of those can affect the connection.

How a Truro installation runs

1. Free survey — heat loss measurements room by room, a radiator check, the outdoor unit position and noise assessment, and a look at the electricity supply.
2. Design and fixed quote — including any planning or listed building consent application the siting needs.
3. Grant application — we apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme voucher and deduct the grant from your invoice.
4. Installation and commissioning — followed by your MCS certificate and the network operator notification.

For cooling as well as heating, see air conditioning in Truro; to generate your own electricity, see solar panels in Truro; and for the planning rules in more depth, read do you need planning permission for a heat pump in Truro?