A 113-year-old community centre that used to be a cottage hospital has installed a high-tech clean energy system to replace its ageing boiler system.

The former Winsford Cottage Hospital in Halwill has been a community centre since it was acquired from the NHS in 1999.

The central heating system, formerly oil-fired boilers, had become increasingly costly to the point where it could not be used regularly. This was beginning to put the historic interior fabric of the building at risk.

Now a wood pellet boiler has been installed by renewable energy specialists Solarsense as part of a £1.5-million restoration programme by the Winsford Trust.

It is a hi-tech solution to the need to keep the Grade II* listed building warm and welcoming for its many users, which include a new day care facility for older people, local clubs and societies, youth groups and a satellite GP surgery.

The building was formerly Winsford Cottage Hospital. Commissioned in 1899 by a local benefactress as a gift to the parishes of North Devon, it is the only building designed by CFA Voysey in public ownership.

It is now owned by the Winsford Trust, and remains almost entirely as Voysey conceived it, with most of the original features still in place.

The replacement of the inefficient oil-fired boilers installed by the NHS decades ago was an essential part of the restoration programme on the building.

The cost was funded by the European Leader 4 initiative and contributions from Devon county councillor resources for the area.

Solarsense has installed the 75KW biomass fuel boiler in the existing boiler room. The wood pellets are stored in the adjacent original coal store and automatically blown into a hopper feeding the boiler.

Centre manager Daniella Coughlin said: 'Rising oil costs meant we could not afford to run the old boilers regularly so the rooms were damp and unwelcoming. We had to use electric heaters to supplement the radiators.

'It's a unique building with a lovely calm atmosphere and the wonderful warmth from the wood pellet boiler now makes it much more welcoming for community uses.

'The boiler is also very simple to operate, using its touch-screen controller, and it can even be controlled remotely from my iPhone, making it easier to minimise our fuel costs.'

Steve Barrett from Solarsense said: 'The rising cost of oil and gas is a major problem for organisations with large buildings to heat, so they really benefit from pellet boilers and other forms of renewable energy.

'It reduces their overheads, helps protect them against future energy price rises and shrinks their carbon footprint.'