Trend takes control of renewable energy in one of Britain’s greenest schools
Helping a new school in Plymouth make best the best use of its renewable-energy resources is a sophisticated building-management system from Trend Controls. Brook Green Centre for Learning has ground-source heat pumps and solar panels for all space heating and hot water. There is also an advanced passive ventilation system to cool the building in Summer and ensure low CO2 levels throughout the year.
The school, one of the greenest in the UK, is heated by an underfloor system managed by the Trend BMS. In Summer, window louvres and high-level vents open automatically to provide free cooling; these are also monitored and controlled by the BMS. In Winter, high CO2 levels and high night-time temperatures are also corrected via the passive ventilation system.
Six Trend IQ3 controllers deliver web pages to a screen in the school restaurant — enabling pupils and staff to see how the heating, cooling and hot water systems are operating, in real time.
A Trend IQView touchscreen display mounted on the front of the control cabinet in the main plant room enables the building manager and maintenance engineers to access controller functions, performance graphs, alarms and schedules. The system can send alarm e-mails to Plymouth City Council and can be linked to the council’s intranet for remote monitoring and control.
The Trend system was installed by KK Controls, a Trend systems integrator based in Plymouth. Architects were Gale & Snowden Architects Ltd.
