2011 August

Within a year of taking office, the Government had exceeded its target of cutting 10% off CO2 emissions from the central-Government estate by 38% — with the overall reduction being 13.8% and representing over 100 000 t of CO2. Making the announcement, Prime Minister David Cameron told Whitehall that it would have to go further by cutting emissions by 25% by 2015.

Airflow has been awarded ISO 14001 approval as a result of continued improvement of its environmental-management systems and practices. Vanessa Downs, team manager with BSI Group, presented the award to Airflow’s operations director Paul Carpenter and engineering and quality manager Narinder Kalsi.

Phase Change Materials (PCM) store and release thermal energy during the process of melting & freezing and the latest range of PCM solutions between --100ºC and +885 ºC offer new application opportunities.

Ventilation manufacturer EnviroVent has received approval from the British Plumbing Employers Council to become an approved training centre for the domestic-ventilation training programme. Domestic ventilation is now notifiable work under Part F of the Building Regulations and must be carried out by a suitably qualified person. The certificate is shown here by EnviroVent’s trainer Darren Chadwick.

Big Foot Solar Systems offer the complete non-penetrative mounting system for photovoltaic panels on a flat roof.

Improving the performance of Air Cooled Chillers, Dry Coolers and Condensers and Refrigeration Plants.

Panasonic’s ECOi VRF Designer software enables systems designers, installers and dealers to very quickly design and size systems using Panasonic’s VRF range, create wiring diagrams and issue bills of quantities.

Retrofitting a wireless building-management system to student accommodation in Bradford is expected to reduce energy consumption by 31% and achieve a 2.4-year return on the investment. Kexgill Student Group, which operates some 600 properties across the UK, worked with Siemens to install the Synco living controls system in a building comprising 14 individual flats to help ensure consistent temperature delivery and optimised energy use according to the needs of the occupants.

Two members of the KNX UK Association, KNX Consultants and Ivory Egg, have been playing a major role in training potential members of the UK team for the WorldSkills 2011 competition at ExCel in London from 5 to 8 October. Young electricians Scott Wigmore and Chris Young undertook the KNX basic-certification course, required for KNX Partner status, under the guidance of Ben Lewis of KNX Consultants. Training took place at the offices of Ivory Egg, a registered training centre for KNX technology.

T-mac Technologies’ BMS Dashboard Software enables businesses to reduce their energy consumption across multiple sites with increased control, making the effects of a BMS much more apparent to their staff. Many new features have been included in the software to help companies manage and profile their energy. The software is easy to use and has additional preference options designed for better comfort in a building.

Trend Control System has introduced an intelligent window-control package that can be fully integrated within its BEMSs to maximise the benefits of natural ventilation. The use of WindowMaster’s MotorLink technology allows window positions to be controlled and monitored extremely accurately. Figures show that natural ventilation can achieve a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions compared with mechanical ventilation.

Why are so many building-management systems inadequate — perhaps 90%. Catherine Kidd has the answers.

A Priva BMS is at the heart of a new purpose-built, energy-efficient facility for JZ Flowers, a leading producer of floral bouquets for UK retailers. Located on the outskirts of Hull, the 5600 m2 packing house contains a myriad of energy-saving innovations, all controlled by the latest Priva hardware and software technology.

Phil Barnett explores the reasons why typical building-management systems frequently fail to deliver their intended benefits and looks at the opportunities presented by web-browser-based solutions.

WEMSinternational, which specialises in wireless energy management systems, has opened its first energy centre in Stockport. Opened by Stockport MP Ann Coffey, its will manage the energy consumption of clients across the UK by controlling WEMS wireless building-and-energy-management systems at each site.

The redevelopment of the 90-year-old North Stand of the stadium of Leicester Tigers rugby club was achieved with the assistance of Tridium’s Vykon HVAC control-engineering software. The 10 000-seat Caterpillar Stand provides the Rugby Premiership champions with more capacity for supporters, function rooms and hospitality areas.

Lighting energy costs are being reduced by 20%, representing £30 000 a year, for a 50 000 m2 distribution warehouse in the Midlands with the installation of lighting-control systems from Ex-Or. The payback is three years A high-street retailer took over this warehouse early in 2010, and the lighting system was refurbished by M&E contractor Imtech G&H.

Why is it that so many, if not most, building and energy-management systems fail to deliver. Dr Cedric Rodrigues suggests a host of reasons — and solutions.

Hywel Davies gives an insight into what the Building Regulations have to say about controls for building services.

Teletask’s Domotics integrated control and automation system for houses, flats and smaller commercial premises comprises a comprehensive portfolio of controls products and integrating software modules that can work with virtually any electrical equipment, appliance or system. It has evolved over the last 26 years and offers simple installation and programming procedures, easy adaptability to meet changing needs, high reliability and cost effectiveness — coupled with ergonomically and aesthetically pleasing user interfaces.

CP Electronics has installed lighting controls in the refurbished Worcester Royal Infirmary building, which is now part of the University of Worcester. The brief was to provide easy and accurate adjustment of light levels, which is particularly important in places of learning which have to cater for traditional teaching and high-tech presentations.

Building controls add long-term value to commercial buildings, but only if clients are prepared to give a clear brief to specifiers — and stick to it explains Ian Ellis.

Titon has launched a surface-mounted noise-reducing trickle ventilator that is suitable for PVCu, timber and aluminium windows. SF vents are compatible with standard 13 mm slots and are described as providing excellent sound attenuation for their size and very competitively priced. Their performance is backed up by independent testing. They are equally suitable for new-build projects and for retrofitting in commercial installations.

Glow-worm has added larger units to its Clearly Heat Pumps range of air-to-water heat-pump systems. The new units have outputs of 7, 12 and 14 kW and form part of a fully integrated heating and domestic-hot-water system that is straightforward to install and easy for homeowners to use.

Daikin Europe’s second-generation of its VRVIII-Q systems for replacing VRV systems using R22 offers larger-capacity outdoor units (5 to 48 hp) with a smaller footprint than corresponding R22 outdoor units, so one-to-one replacement is possible — even using existing power connections. Existing installation piping and, in many cases, the indoor units can be retained, minimising downtime and cost. VRVIII-Q uses R410A.

Legrand has added an ultra-heavy-duty version to its range of Swifts cable ladders that is suitable for industrial applications. Emerald Ultra ladder is designed to be used on spans of up to 6 m. It comes in standard 6 m lengths and seven widths from 150 to 900 mm. The new ladder is hot-dip galvanised after manufacture and can be installed using the existing range of Emerald fittings.

Trane has developed a technique to improve the performance of air-conditioning systems by using adiabatic cooling to reducing the temperature of the air on to the heat-rejection coil by up to 20 K. A 10 K temperature drop can reduce power consumption by 13%.

The latest range of City Multi air-conditioning units from Mitsubishi Electric delivers a 4% increase in COP and EER compared with the previous range. This improvement is achieved by a redesigned compressor with a more concentrated stator coil. A redesigned heat exchanger provides up to a 3% increase in heating/cooling performance. These new models have been designed to provide a better distribution of refrigerant through the heat exchanger, improving the defrost cycle.

Aereco’s BXC extract unit for mechanical extract ventilation is based on intelligent presence detection to provide ventilation as required. The Eyebooster module detects infra-red radiation through an angle of 100° through a Fresnel lens. When a variation in infra-radiation is detected, the extract shutters are opened and ventilation provided.

Vaillant’s geoTHERM range of air-to-water heat pumps is available with outputs of 7, 12 and 15 kW. They can generate temperatures of up to 60°C for domestic hot water. The Piharmonic system ensures extremely quiet operation via a combination of sound-insulated framing module and vibration absorbing base plate.

Flex Connectors’ Flex7 eZeBox for cabling lighting systems has seven poles as standard and is rated at 16 A. They come with two, four, six, 10 and 12 ways and replace the existing FCB range. They are compatible with all other Flex7 products. A range of installation options enables these boxes to be easily fixed to solid surfaces, cable tray, trunking, drop rods or conduit boxes.

Dimplex now offers a range of air-source heat-pump packs containing everything needed for most common domestic applications. The packs include LA MS or LA PMS heat pumps. LA MS models are designed to minimise noise emissions and offer outputs from 9 to 16 kW. The PMS range offers flow temperatures that can be varied from 35 to 65°C, with weather compensation.

Trane has introduced a one-way cassette fan-coil unit for office and healthcare buildings. CFAS units have a self-contained return and supply air plenum that blows parallel to the ceiling in one direction. The Coanda effect is achieved in full at all fan speeds, and a louvred linear return-air grille with a 45° angle ensures that supply and return air do not mix. Noise levels are 35 dB(A) at average speed or below. These units are only 306 mm high.

Hitachi Air Conditioning has enhanced its Utopia IVX and ES Series of outdoor units to increase seasonal efficiency and make installation easier. Refinements to the inverter compressor and DC motor and optimising the refrigerant cycle have increased the seasonal performance for both heating and cooling by 4% compared to previous models.

Econoflame boilers from Stokvis Energy Systems come in three ranges — the wall-hung R30 series, the R6000 range and the top-output R3400, R3500 and R3600SB premix commercial boilers.

Tyco Fire Protection Products claims that its Ansul R102 fire-suppression system protects more food-service kitchens than any other brand. This pre-engineered, wet-chemical, cartridge-operated system has been tested in worst-case scenarios, with minimum and maximum piping restraints and minimum and maximum temperature limitations. The system has been tested under these strict conditions and is certified to meet UL300 and LPS1223 approvals.

Fike’s SigniFire system provides reliable early detection of fires by watching for the tell-tale signatures of smoke and flames in images captured by Signifire video cameras.

Daikin Europe’s VRVIII heating-only system achieves COPs of around four. Outdoor units rated from 25 to 170 kW support up to 64 indoor units, with each indoor unit receiving precisely the heat it needs. Indoor units can be controlled individually. These systems are said to be particularly suited to public buildings where Summer cooling is not required.

The energy-efficiency benefits of the CHP installation at Salisbury District Hospital are to be further enhanced by the installation of an exhaust-stack condensing heat-recovery system for use on heating and hot-water system. The £246 000 order was awarded to Thermal Energy International following the successful supply and installation of a GEM condensate-return system.

Bournemouth International Centre now has a supremely efficient system for supplying its domestic hot water following collaboration between the borough council’s building-services engineer, Bill Boutell, and Trevor Harbut, projects support team manager for BSS Industrial acting as consultant to the council. The work was carried out in two stages — replacing two big calorifiers served by the main heating boilers and then adding solar thermal.

Substantial energy savings for providing domestic hot water for the tallest building in Reading are being achieved with the installation of Tyco Thermal Controls’ HWAT system for maintaining water temperature in single-pipe systems. Energy savings of up to 50% compared with a recirculation system are expected for the 128 m-high building, called The Blade, which provides over 10 000 m2 of office space over 14 floors.

WindowMaster has won its largest-every UK order for a natural-ventilation and smoke-control solution. The company has supplied window actuators, locking motors and automated controls for the natural ventilation of Network Rail’s new National Centre in Milton Keynes.

Andrews Water Heaters continues to meet the requirements for hot water in John Lewis department stores with the provision of equipment for the new store in Cardiff. Two gas-fired condensing water heaters have been installed in this store. Similar models have been used in John Lewis shops in the Trafford Centre in Manchester, Aberdeen and Liverpool.

A 30 m2 solar-thermal installation at the recently opened Everyone Active Basildon Sporting Village in Essex meets a large proportion of the requirements for domestic hot water. Supplied by MHS Boilers, the Solartron R2.5 panels operate in conjunction with two 3000 l Abondance buffer storage vessels and a 1775 l Inox-Max preheat single-coil cylinder.

Ventilation for a prestigious conservation project at Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire is provided by Titon HRV1 Q Plus whole-house ventilation units and CME1 Q Plus continuous mechanical extract units. The project, Kingston Mills, has been awarded a Royal Town Planning Institute award in the local regeneration and renewal category.

Legrand has demonstrated the scope of its power-distribution division by supplying Electrak and Zucchini solutions for a new BAE production facility in Washington, Tyne & Wear. Specified by NG Bailey, Legrand supplied Electrak buscom and Zucchini MR busbar systems. In addition, its Zucchini EdM medium-voltage cast-resin trans­former was specified by utilities contractor PN Daly.

JS Air Curtains has designed and supplied eight vertical air-curtain systems for The Park Pavilion complex in London’s Canary Wharf. Six of these air curtains are 3 m high, and two are 2.5 m high. The finish is brushed stainless steel, and they are positioned vertically at the sides of the entrance and three interior doorways to retain warm air in the Winter and cool air in Summer. They were installed by electrical contractor Ashridge EC.

Trox fan-coil units have been selected for the striking Central Saint Giles mixed-use development in central London. The high performance requirements of the consultant are met by a combination of energy-efficient motors and customised jet-nozzle and grille designs — at the same time as achieving the architect’s intentions for the visual impact of the space.

Helping to achieve a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating for one of the buildings in the new Category B facility at Belmarsh Prison in London are pumps supplied by Grundfos. This £415 million PFI contract with Serco Group, with Skanska winning the £100 million contract for its design and build, comprises 10 buildings to house 900 inmates.

As part of a project to increase the capacity of New College in Swindon by 35%, Marco Cable Management has supplied 350 lengths of uPVC Elite compact trunking for this £10 million project. Avon Combined Electrical Services of Bristol is carrying out the M&E works for the project. Main contractor Morgan Sindall is managing the wider project, which is due for completion in September 2011.

WindowMaster has supplied 6910 chain actuators for the automatic control of 1382 parallel-opening windows on the 126 m-high 40 000 m2 Prime Tower in Zurich, the tallest building in Switzerland. The installation includes an espagnolette locking motor for each window. These MotorLink actuators are connected to MotorLink MotorControllers to provide power and control primarily for natural ventilation.