Controlled ventilation with low energy consumption is provided in an apartment development in Lincolnshire with a ventilation scheme devised by Passivent and developer Redrow Homes.

Vortice has introduced a whole-house heat-recovery ventilation system that is said to exceed the requirements of Part L of the Building Regulations. The HRU ECO 3 RF unit is installed in the loft space and has DC motors and a heat exchanger that results in an efficiency of 95%. They are controlled by 3-speed wireless controllers.

How can you minimise the energy associated with achieving good indoor air quality? HARRI ITKONEN shares his ideas.

Modern air-conditioning units can do much more than cool the air, they can also remove all manner of impurities. DAVID MacRAE reviews the technologies used.

To overcome safety issues of automated windows that are increasingly being installed as part of natural-ventilation strategies for buildings, WindowMaster has developed a control system to avoid fingers and hands becoming accidentally trapped as they close automatically.

Online calculators for duct and room humidification are available on the web site of HygroMatik. These tools are intended to simplify the process of designing and selecting humidification systems for buildings.

Textile ventilation socks from Euro Air UK deliver conditioned air to digital print company Digital International without draughts and with low cost of ownership. They were selected by consulting engineers J. E. Evans Associates.

To help manufacturers and installers of windows comply with Part F (ventilation) of the Building Regulations, Titon has introduced a new range of slot vents, Trimvent Select Xtra.

With one of the biggest users of electrical energy in an HVAC system being fans for supplying air, Vince Eade of Jasun Filtration sees an opportunity for reducing their consumption by using more efficient air filters. He tells us that according to research in Germany, fans can account for 18% of the electrical consumption of a building.

Seeley International has introduced a controller for its Breezair range of evaporative cooler that can handle up to 10 smart hubs and control up to 41 coolers.

With the latest Building Regulations specifying low-air-leakage rates for buildings comes the need for controlled mechanical — and, at the same time, the opportunity for energy recovery from the exhaust air to improve the energy performance of buildings even more. CRAIG McFADYEN explores the economic benefits.

Halving the energy used by lighting in industrial and commercial buildings is easy. If lighting is responsible for 40% of a building’s energy use, as it often is, the opportunity for a 20% reduction could be staring you in the face. MIKE HARRINGTON explores the possibilities.

Venture Lighting’s metal-halide lamps have been used to great effect in the improvement of the visual environment for over 1200 people employed at the O2 Call Centre in Bury, Lancs.

A written guarantee for at 80 000 h of maintenance-free life is provided with a range of fluorescent luminaires from Aura. Greenstock Lamp company is supplying Aura Ultimate long-life fluorescent tubes to sister company Aura Corporation to fit in Superlife versions of its Actulite polarised daylight fittings.

Modern approaches to lighting control can be installed at the same time as the lighting, and by the same electrician. COLIN LEGG reviews the options available and their benefits.

Focusing too much on reducing solar gain into office buildings will lead to buildings that are unpleasant to work in. People benefit from daylight. HARRY BARNITT discusses how to balance the requirements of Part L and people’s need for good lighting.

With seven channels providing a combination of timed, switching, occupancy and response to changing light levels, Chalmor’s Autolux controller is described as providing the functionality of a high-end lighting-management system for a fraction of the cost. It is also said to be intuitive for end users to operate.

New floor-standing luminaires from Luxo combine screen-printed or prismatic glass with a mirror 5 reflector system and cast-aluminium head glass. The option of prismatic glass for Free luminaires increases light output by 20%.

Mercury Recycling is making significant expansion to its recycling services in preparation for the implementation of the WEEE Directive later this year (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment). The expansion increase the company’s capabilities in terms of volume, scope of service and geographical coverage.

Wireless controllers from Danlers enable lighting to be switched or dimmed and are described as offering a practical solution to complying with Part L of the Building Regulations, especially in buildings where cables are not practical. These controllers can also be used with other electrical loads and are available as hand-held and wall-mounted versions.

Lighting at Birmingham’s reinvented Fort Dunlop incorporates ceiling-mounted PIR presence detectors from CP Electronics with a special finish.

The use of an LED as the light-source in the flush-mounted JSB Micropoint recessed emergency luminaire from Cooper Lighting makes possible a diameter of just 3 cm. This light source has a life of 60 000 h, and the fitting delivers uniform illumination, making it ideal for coverage of open areas.

Refurbishment of Surrey County Council’s Quadrant Court offices in Woking has included the replacement of Cat 2 luminaires with a range of fittings from Whitecroft Lighting. They include specially modified versions of Cascade luminaires to meet the needs of the project.

Simmtronic, which makes fully addressable digital lighting controls for corporate developments, has developed a new hard-wired hub for its proprietary SPECS3 systems driving DALI technology.

Energy costs have been cut and carbon-dioxide emissions reduced by 1800 tonnes a year at the Natural History Museum following the installation of a tri-generation system to deliver electricity, heating and cooling — and there are many other benefits. KEN SHARPE takes up the story.

Air conditioning aNd the refrigerants it uses frequently get a bad Press. But Mitsubishi’s Donald Daw believes that air-conditioning technology holds the key to reducing the UK’s emission of carbon dioxide.

Despite the powerful green image of solar energy and wind power, heat pumps are by far a more effective way of exploiting renewable energy, as we found out from PHIL MOORE.

When you have reduced the carbon footprint of a building as far as possible with good engineering practice, what can you do about the remaining carbon emissions? The answer is carbon offsetting, as MARK NORTHCOTT explains.

The Roman hypocaust heating system has been voted by the UK H&V industry as the top product of all time in the Hall of Fame initiative associated with the recent H&V07 exhibition and featured in our December issue.

The British Refrigeration Association is to offer the responsible trading initiative that it has developed to ACRIB, the Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Industry Board, with the aim that DEFRA can use core parts of the scheme in its basket of solutions for compliance with the F-Gas Regulation. ACRIB is the central sector body consulting with DEFRA.

To provide a wider forum for people in the industry with an interest in building controls, BCIA (the Building Controls Industry Association) has introduced an associate membership category. It is aimed at consultants, contractors, architects and building owners and occupiers.

As part of SES’s £3.75 building-services contract for two new buildings at the University of Teesside a chiller weighting 3.5 t is craned into position by a specialist 100 t crane. Over two days, the crane hoisted into position four Carrier chillers, four air-handling units and prefabricated modules onto the roofs of the new buildings for the Institute of Digital Imagery and the Centre for Creative Technologies.

The thousandth CHP unit to be made by Ener-G at its factory in Salford has been delivered to the London Borough of Enfield for installation in Edmonton Leisure Centre.

AC2000, which specialises in the installation of air conditioning and mechanical services, has become one of the first air-conditioning contractors to achieve registration with BESCA (Building Services Competence Accreditation).

Thermal Transfer is acting as the principal contractor for the design and build of a new £2.5 million laboratory near Livingston in Scotland.

LG Air Conditioning is expanding its technical services by recruiting up to eight more staff in response to rising demand for VRF products from major contractors, property owners, developers, premises managers, building-services contractors and consultants.

As part of the continued development of its Quartz fan-coil business, TEV has added a replication room to its extensive suite of performance and sound-power test chambers. This room simulates site installation for fan coils, cassettes and wall-mounted units. Sound pressure can be measured to demonstrate the noise levels that can be expected with the actual installation.

Metrico Industrial Fans has a new owner — Victoria Fans of Mossley, Lancashire. The shares, goodwill and export agencies of the company have been acquired by George Garside and Ian Grimsditch of Victoria Fans. Roy Pickersgill, former owner of Metrico, is now an export consultant to Victoria Fans.

NG Bailey, one of the UK’s largest building-services providers, has acquired Integrated Control Systems (ICS) — a specialist controls company. ICS has a turnover of £8 million and is based in the south east.

The building and facilities services division of AMEC has secured a major facilities-management contract with the NEC Group, Birmingham, AMEC will be responsible for delivering the mechanical, electrical and building-fabric maintenance services for all NEC Group venues. They include the exhibition halls and entertainment arenas near Birmingham together with the Symphony Hall, International Convention Centre and National Indoor Arena in the city centre.

Tower 42, the tallest building in the City of London, has become the first entrant from outside the USA to be recognised at the ‘Office building of the year’ awards. The title was presented at the International Annual Commercial Real Estate Congress in Dallas of the Building Owners & Managers Association for the category ‘2006 distinguished entry award office building of the year international winner’.

Inviron’s contract with Equion to be its M&E maintenance partner at 16 police stations in Greater Manchester has been extended for another year.

SummitSkills, the sector skills council for building-services engineering, has achieved Investors in People status.

Diffusion has bounced back from two years of poor trading with a 26% increase in sales over the last 12 months, an upswing in profits and signs of a more buoyant market place. The company’s product range includes fan coils, over-door heaters and air conditioning systems to optimise the quality of the working and living environment. The company expects to see continued growth over the coming 12 months and to hire more production staff.

Space Airconditioning has renewed its support for the Krystal Racing team for the 2007 Metseler Racetec National Superstock Championship, part of the British Superbike Support Package.

MITIE has teamed up with Surrey Education Business Partnership to visit schools across Surrey taking part in games designed to give pupils business, planning and negotiating experience.

Weatherite Building Services has been appointed an accredited installer by Mitsubishi Electric for its air-conditioning systems. The award has been made under Mitsubishi’s partner programme, which provides accredited installers and end-user customers with a number of important advantages — including a 5-year warranty, compared to the usual three years, on all Mitsubishi air-conditioning equipment installed by Weatherite.

EWS, part of the Eaton-Williams group of companies, has reached a major milestone with the celebration of 40 years in the industry.

Centraline by Honeywell has set up a training centre to support its partner network of independent automation and control integrators. The facility is in Bracknell and helps partners maximise the energy efficiency of HVAC installations using the Centraline range of automation and controls.

Scolmore International has released a new edition of its Flameguard catalogue following the granting of UK patent rights covering this heat-resistant casing for downlights to protect against the spread of fire.

A free guide to the ‘Code for sustainable homes’ has been prepared by Mitsubishi Electric. This code

The air-curtain industry group of HEVAC has produced a guide to air curtains covering the benefits, applications and requirements of air curtains to assist specifiers during the selection process. The aim of the group is to promote the effective use of air curtains by supplying equipment specifications from which considered decisions can be made.

Sontay, a market leader in control peripheral products, has added a range of new functions to its web site, including an online ordering service and technical support.

Dunphy Combustion has produced a ‘Key facts’ booklet for engineers considering the use of biofuels as a single fuel source or as one of several multi-fuels.

To make it easier to find faults in its air-conditioning equipment while on site, Mitsubishi Electric has introduced a guide to its SMS text service.

Kingspan Insulation has created a new web site for its Kooltherm range of duct insulation to offer professionals in the construction industry an-easy-to-use information source for insulation ductwork.

Advanced Air has revised its catalogue of air-distribution equipment to cover its full product range and provide technical information.

A contract for Powercall UK to provide standby power within the hour for East Cambridgeshire District Council came into effect twice in January with two power cuts — one lasting over 18 hours.

Heating and frost protection for the 40 000m2 warehouse of Bosch at Kettering is provided by two Nordair-Niche floor-standing warm-air heaters. The depot stores white goods such as refrigerators and freezers, and an important function of the heating is to prevent the air temperature falling below 5°C to protect them against frost damage.

The ability to stack two Lochinvar water heaters played a key role in overcoming space restrictions in the basement plant room of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. Lochinvar supplied MCW copper-fin water heaters, which were installed on a stacking frame, and two LST166 energy-saving cylinders to provide hot water for the college’s 78 bedrooms.

Heating costs have been cut and the benefits of air conditioning brought to a large 1300 m2 office building in Newbury by the installation of four large Toshiba VRF systems.

The contract to service standby generators at 28 sites of TNT UK has been awarded to Merlin Power Management. TNT is a European market leader in global express, logistics and international mail services and is acutely aware of the importance of its standby generators always starting if the power fails.

The capabilities of Knurr’s CoolTherm water-cooling for server cabinets to enable more cabinets to be installed in data centres and reduce operating costs are being exploited in a range of data centres across the UK. CoolTherm was introduced four years ago and can deliver 45 kW of cooling to a 19 in server cabinet with no impact on the temperature in the room.

Trials of a control system with an air curtain at New Look’s store in Watford have reduced their energy consumption by 40%. The SmartElec control panel was fitted to the air curtain in October 2005 for a 6-month trial to test the effect on energy costs (monitored by a data logger) and the potential benefit it could bring in meeting the new Part L of the Building Regulations. It controls an Airbloc AC electrically heated air curtain.

The environmental benefits of Sanyo’s gas heat pump technology have led to it being specified to provide heating and cooling for the 5-star Fota Island Hotel in Cork, Ireland.

When art auctioneer Christie’s was looking to replace the air curtain above the entrance to its showrooms in the St James’s area of London it looked to the supplier of the existing air curtain — Thermoscreens.

Heating for the various sports and leisure facilities at the new Croke Park Stadium in Dublin is provided by three Buderus Boilers. They were specified by consulting engineers JV Tierney & Co. for their efficiency, reliability and installation benefits.

Over 30 air-handling units are being supplied by McQuay for the New Street Square office and retail development in the City of London. The contract is worth £850 000 and involves the design, manufacture and supply of Easdale Type 50 AHUs to AMEC Building & Facilities Services to supply conditioned air to all four office buildings. Many of these AHUs incorporate thermal wheels.

A simple add-on approach to neutralise condensate from commercial condensing boilers has been introduced by Watermatic. Condensafe takes the form of a cartridge that can be fitted into a standard 40 mm plastic waste drain and is fitted with universal couplers for all makes of such pipes.

Broag now offers prefabricated skid-mounted boiler packages to reduce installation time on site. They are built on a rigid boxed steel frame with a width of only 650 mm and complete with lifting eyes and wheels so that they can be rolled through a standard doorway. These rigs come complete with pretested pipework and control packages.

Victaulic’s FireLock NXT range of pre-action devices for fire-protection systems is quick and easy to install and is said to offer the smallest sizes in the industry.

Keraflo’s Aylesbury KAX float valve is available in four sizes from 11/4 to 2 in and is therefore particularly suitable for Type AA and AB air gaps where valves larger than 1 in are required. These valves have a fixed opening differential between opening and closing of 75 mm.

Geminox’s vertical cascade flue system enables up to 11 boilers on 11 levels in, say, an apartment block to share a common 110 mm-diameter flue riser and addresses the requirements of CORGI’s Appendix 1, which states that flue joints should be available to inspect.

KSB has introduced a system for collecting and using rainwater for applications such as flushing toilets and irrigation.

A new fire-protection system from Siemens Building Technologies has integral support for BACnet and Ethernet, so it can communicate with virtually any modern building-management system.

Aermec’s NSB range of air-cooled chillers uses R134a and offers cooling capacities from 240 to 1600 kW. They use twin-screw compressors for medium and high cooling capacity and are said to have an EER 15% higher than models using R407C.

Merlin Power Management has introduced a fixed-price for its Powercare of service contracts — regardless of the size of the generator. The package includes all call-outs, mileage, technical support and a rapid response to urgent calls. The only extras are consumables and spare parts.

Parasense has assembled a package of products and services to help facilities managers comply with the F-Gas Regulation when comes into effect in July 2007

Rinnai has extended its Infinity range of continuous-flow gas-fired water heaters with a model to meet the needs of domestic and light-commercial premises. The Infinity 16i can deliver 15 l/min of hot water from a unit weighing 18 kg and less than 680 mm high. Applications include cafés, pubs, restaurants, offices, shops, hairdressers and small industrial units.

Stokvis Energy Systems is promoting its packaged plate heat exchangers as an economical approach to delivering domestic hot water (DHW) while addressing the risk of legionella. This approach avoids the need for storing large quantities of hot water, instead providing DHW by heating cold mains water directly on demand.

BSS has partnered with Yorkshire Fittings to launch the Boss DZR brass venturi valve as a ‘unique’ solution to commissioning heating and chilled-water systems.

The Condair SH2 humidifier from Axair Climate offers low energy consumption and low cost of ownership in HVAC systems in offices, industrial and residential premises.

Airwell's Flow Logic VRF system is available in three options: Mini VRF; standard 2-pipe and 3-pipe heat-recovery system. They are distributed in the UK by CHB.