Unico EVO

The Olimpia Splendid Unico EVO is the answer to a question a lot of UK flats, leasehold homes and listed buildings keep asking: how do you get fixed, permanent air conditioning when an outdoor unit is not allowed? The EVO is a through-the-wall monobloc, so the whole system, compressor included, lives in one slim indoor cabinet and breathes through two grilles in the external wall. It cools, heats down to -15°C outside, carries built-in Wi-Fi, and because the refrigerant circuit is factory-sealed and pre-charged, a competent builder can fit it: no F-Gas engineer, no condenser on the wall.

The trade-offs are real and worth stating plainly. It is less efficient than a split, so the same cooling costs more to run; the compressor sits in the room with you, so there is a low drone a wall-mounted split never makes; the two 202 mm holes are a serious alteration to an external wall; and at £1,489 to £1,849 it costs as much as a fitted budget split. It is also still a niche product in the UK, with a shorter track record here than the mainstream splits, so our rating stays deliberately conservative. Our verdict is simple: if you can have an outdoor unit, buy a split. If you cannot, this is the unit to shortlist first.

A monobloc puts the entire refrigeration system, compressor, coils and fans, inside one wall-mounted indoor cabinet, and exchanges air with the outside through two core-drilled holes covered by discreet grilles. Nothing hangs on the outside of the building. That single fact is why the Unico exists: it is the mainstream UK option for air conditioning without an outdoor unit, which makes it the go-to answer for flats, leasehold homes where the freeholder refuses a condenser, listed buildings and conservation areas. Unlike a portable, it is a fixed, permanent installation with no hose across the room and no window left ajar.

The EVO is the current generation of Olimpia Splendid's long-running Unico line, and it comes in three sizes: the EVO 20 HP (1.7 kW nominal cooling), EVO 25 HP (2.1 kW) and EVO 30 HP (2.6 kW, 3.1 kW maximum). The naming needs decoding once: HP means heat pump, so it heats as well as cools (SF versions are cooling-only); EVAN is the standard 30 HP; EVANX adds a modulating electric backup heater that takes over below a settable outdoor temperature, useful if it will be the main heat source in a cold room. Every current model has Wi-Fi built in.

Be honest with yourself about capacity before you buy. The range tops out at 3.1 kW, enough for one bedroom, study or medium living room, not an open-plan space, and there is no multi-room option. If your building allows an outdoor unit, a wall-mounted split will cool the same room more cheaply and more quietly, and that is what we would fit instead. The Unico EVO is for homes where that door is closed.

Expect £1,489 to £1,849 for the unit alone depending on size, with the 30 HP EVAN at £1,799 the sensible pick for most rooms. Most people buy supply-only online (it arrives on a pallet) and pay a builder or handyman for the fitting: two core-drilled 202 mm holes, a wall bracket for a 41 kg unit and a 13 A plug, realistically a day with a hired heavy-duty core drill, so this is a job for the trades unless you are a confident DIYer. Fitted packages exist too: at the time of writing one specialist sells the 30 HP EVANX supplied and installed for £1,540.83 under the 0% VAT energy-saving materials scheme, which runs to 31 March 2027, cheaper fitted than the unit alone at full VAT while stock lasts. As a comparison, a budget wall-mounted split lands at roughly £1,400 to £1,800 fitted, which is exactly why the Unico only makes sense where a split is not allowed.

Running costs are the honest weakness. As a double-duct appliance the EVO is rated at EERd 2.6 to 3.1 (the cooling output you get per unit of electricity), where a modern split manages the equivalent of 7 or more. In practice the EVO 30 draws around 1 kW when cooling hard, which at the July 2026 Ofgem price cap unit rate of 26.11p per kWh is about 26p an hour, or roughly £2.09 for eight hours flat out; the inverter eases off once the room reaches temperature, so real days cost less. A split doing the same job would use roughly half the electricity or better. Do not count on the £2,500 air-to-air heat pump grant either: it requires an MCS-certified installation that replaces a fossil-fuel heating system, which is not how a Unico is normally bought or fitted. Prices and rates correct as of August 2026; the energy price cap changes quarterly, so check current rates before budgeting.