School reports much-improved control system

Priva, BMS, BEMS, Controls
Taking control of new energy-efficient plant at this school in north London is a Priva Bue ID BMS.

Playing a key role in huge reductions in gas and electricity consumption at Waverley School in Enfield is a Priva Blue ID building-management system. The system replaces a BMS that was over 25 years old and was part of project that also saw old boilers replaced, the installation of low-energy lighting and controls, programmable controllers, refrigeration-motor controllers and variable-speed fan motors.

Energy bills have been reduced by £53 000 a year and CO2 emissions by 257 t. Of this figure, installation contractor Mitie attributes 44 t to the BMS, reducing annual gas and electricity consumption by 225 MWh.

Graham Williams, premises manager at the school, explained, ‘The old building-management system dated back to the 1980s, with basic, complex controllers. Parts of it didn’t work at all, and the parts of it that did work were a nightmare to control.

‘For example, we used to leave the air-handling units in the swimming pool running permanently at 100% because we had no control of speed or when to turn them completely on and off.’

When this state special school was given the chance to undertake a programme of works to boost energy efficiency using Government-backed Salix financing as part of the Mayor of London’s RE:FIT initiative, it jumped at the chance.

The work was carried out by Mitie. Dale Meadows, energy technical solutions manager, said, ‘A key part of the project was the installation of a new BMS. We selected the Priva Blue ID because it was good value for money and we knew it would be easy for the school to use.’

The BMS was installed without disturbing any school activities.

Future plans to further reduce energy consumption include the installation of a CHP unit — controlled using the Priva BMS.

For more information on this story, click here: November 2014, 85
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