2007 February

Martyn Rowlands, Head of Marketing for Durapipe UK, discusses the developments regarding prefabrication of pipework within the building services industry

David Dunn highlights trends in VRF air conditioning that you need to be keeping up with.

We increasingly understand the need for exploiting renewable energy and the theory. Using it in practice is the final — and more complicated stage — says Graham Blandford.

The weight of legislation being thrown at air-conditioning is growing. Graham Hendra explains what it all means and who is affected.

It is nearly a year since the publication of the 2006 Building Regulations, and the 12-month transitional period is nearly over. How well are they working? A recent CIBSE seminar sought to find out.

The interests of air-conditioning and refrigeration engineers have moved closer with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and the Institute of Refrigeration (IoR). The two organisations have committed to working together to develop and promote excellence in the refrigeration and air-conditioning aspects of building services.

Contractor Briggs & Forrester has recently handed over the £1.45 million base-build mechanical-services installation at 1 Coleman Street in the City of London and has moved on to the tenant fit-out works valued at £1.9 million.

Pegler and Yorkshire Fittings have combined the commercial functions of the two businesses. Bryan Liddle has taken on the role of commercial managing director, running the new combined sales, marketing and distribution functions.

A building-management system based on IP could provide control of much more than the services. Ken Munro explores the risk.

Building-management systems and intelligent buildings have a key role to play in reducing carbon emissions from buildings. Mark Andrews explains how his company is working to exploit the opportunities.

The software engineering tool that is part of the Priva building-management system has been used to control a variety of alternative-energy sources for holiday accommodation in Cornwall and enabled the system to be set-up with minimal special work.

Integrated Control Systems has recently completed work on three contracts totalling over £1 million. The are all in prestigious buildings close to one another in central London and involved the design and installation of new or refurbished building-management systems.

Marketing building controls is different from other products and systems. Appreciating the differences between packaged integration and selling open protocols is important to those marketing building controls and also to those buying the services of systems integrators. John Nicholls explains.

Darren Burford explores the vital role of compatible connectivity in making possible the truly integrated building — and the installation and operational benefits.

Fläkt Woods has introduced a monitoring unit for its Econet packaged liquid-coupled heat-recovery system. Remo can check and control all temperature functions remotely to deliver what is described as outstanding energy-saving advantages.

The operation and control of existing plant in the headquarters of Vernon Building Society in Stockport have been much improved following the installation of Honeywell Excel Web controls by Zalti Control Systems.

CIBSE, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, is positioning itself as the prime source of expertise for sustainable buildings. The institution’s president David Hughes, told members and their guests at the recent annual dinner in London, ‘We intend to build towards this aspiration by harnessing the expertise of our members to raise competence across the industry.’

It was two gold medals for Chris Price (second from left), and an after-sales technician with Reznor UK, in the British and World Coastal Rowing Championships in Guernsey recently. With four team mates from his Dover rowing club, he fought off stiff competition from the world’s best coastal rowers from as far afield as New Zealand.

The Olympic Development Authority, which is responsible for creating the Olympic venues and infrastructure for the 2012 games in London, has pledged to cut carbon emissions linked to the Olympic Park and other venues by 50%. That is substantially more than the 44% reduction required by new regulations due to be introduced in 2013.

Mitsubishi Electric has announced more dates for its series of free CPD-approved seminars on renewable energy following the success of the four held from September to January at its conference suite in Hatfield.

Building-services contractor Skerrit is working on a £6 million contract for Trinity Square in Nottingham, a mixed-used development including shopping, restaurants, pubs, parking and residential accommodation. The company has a team of 90 plumbers, mechanical and electrical engineers on site working on all external and internal lighting, ventilation systems, power sources, fire systems and plumbing and heating systems.

The development of a Sector Skills Agreement for building-services engineer is now involving the industry in a series of workshops. 12 workshops have been held so far as part of this Horizon project. Delegates have learnt about the key findings from research carried out by SummitSkills and, following team discussions, suggestions have been put forward on how to solve the issues facing the sector.

Following the management buy-out of EHS International, a distributor of air-treatment products based in Manchester, the company is acquiring additional warehouse and office space with over £1 million of funding from Bank of Scotland Corporate.

Faced with a brief to design energy- and space-efficient engineering systems for a retail and office development near St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Hoare Lea Consulting Engineers has devised a central condenser water system incorporating ground-source heating and cooling for the retail tenancies in the lower floors of One New Change.

AMEC has won a £36 million contract to design and deliver two new secondary schools in Salford. It was awarded by Hochtief PPP Solutions for Harrop Fold High School and Buile Hill High School.

CIBSE reports a successful 2006, with membership now exceeding 18 000 — marking a significant achievement in the recruitment and retention of members from the building-services industry. The rise in membership reflects an ongoing commitment by the institution to ensure it represents and serves its existing members to a high standard, while continually taking advantage of new ways to boost numbers.

77% of respondents to a recent skills survey had problems recruiting during 2006. The sample in the survey by the Chartered Institute of Building consisted of 623 respondents, 96% of which were members. and working at management level.

A training centre serving Europe, the Middle East and Africa has been opened by Toshiba Carrier at its headquarters at Leatherhead.

Setting an example for its recently published ‘Agenda for action on sustainability’, the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association has teamed up with the Electrical Contractors’ Association to reduce the carbon footprint of Esca House, their jointly owned office in west London. The initiative follows the involvement of both associations in CIBSE’s 100 days of carbon clean-up campaign last year, aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 10 to 15%.

The BTU Golfing Society, formed in 1926 by building-services engineers in London, has raised £1746 for the Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance. The money was raised by the Thames Valley BTU with an auction of gifts presented by members and guests, together with a raffle draw.

Dalkia has secured a contract to manage the total facilities management service across all non-core buildings at Manchester Airport. The contract involves Dalkia staff working at eight non-terminal buildings around the airport, displaying its M&E, fire and security, BMS, lighting and electrical testing, building fabric, grounds maintenance and soft services at these buildings.

The building-services maintenance contract for The Lowry in Salford Quays has been awarded to HFL Building Solutions of Manchester. It covers the entire gallery’s heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting and power.

Small departures from ideal operating conditions can substantially affect the performance and reliability of electric motors, says Steve Ruddell.

Precise controllability, more reliability and less energy — new energy efficient motors in fans deliver direct benefits to the HEVAC industry. Paul Kilburn explains what this means for ventilation.

H&V07 will be the launch pad for an ambitious action plan designed to help contractors spearhead the growth in sustainable engineering solutions. David Frise explains the thinking behind this initiative.

Future energy efficiency legislation is moving ever closer to including a code of practice to ensure all new build uses renewable energy source to help meet its heating and hot-water needs. Nick Stevenson believes that the simplicity and accessibility of solar thermal will make it first choice for heating engineers.

Lighting that complies fully with CIBSE guidance LG7 is provide at the new Silverstone Innovation centre Oxford using ALE luminaires form Ridi.

Argent FM has increased its horizons with refurbishment work of premises leased by the British Council in Baku, Azerbaijan. The comprehensive refurbishment has brought the electrical and mechanical services up to UK standards.

Efficient space heating for the modernised YHA Keswick in Cumbria is provided by a modulating condensing boiler supplied by Lochinvar. The CP-M100 gas-fired wall-hung boiler heats the 85-bed building and achieves an efficiency of up to 109.5% net.

The GEM venturi steam trap, made by Gardner Energy Management, is the most efficient steam trap available — according to a performance analysis carried by Queen’s University, Belfast. The testing was undertaken under the supervision of Dr Gavin Walker, senior lecturer in chemical engineering, and carried out under BS EN 27841:1991.

To protect Scotland’s Secret Bunker, one of the country’s foremost tourist attractions, from power cuts, Scorpion Power Systems has supplied a state-of-the-art power system to support the operational facilities and telephones, air conditioning and essential services.

An ave.rage COP over the course of a year is the design target for the ground-source heat pump serving an underfloor heating system in a London School and generating domestic hot water.

Demonstrating the potential of solar energy to substantially reduce the energy required to generate domestic hot water is a refurbishment project at County Hall, Bedford.

Nine Neptronic SKE resistive steam humidifiers have been supplied by JS Humidifiers to the National Gallery in London to replace the original resistive steam system. They can provide up to 220 kg/h of steam to the atmosphere inside the galleries of the Sainsbury Wing and the main building to maintain optimum humidity around some of the world’s most valuable paintings.

A hospital in Birmingham is enjoying the cost-saving and environmental benefits of a high-efficiency CHP system installed in a new energy centre to replacement elderly coal-fired boilers. Carbon emissions will be reduced significantly.

Fresh air for a new development of flats at Centreway, Ilford, is supplied by Sonair and Innoventus ventilators from Titon. The 16-storey block provides 163 flats with one and two bedrooms and has been developed by Barratt Homes.

To maximise energy efficiency, only variable-speed pumps have been installed in the refurbishment of the Warwick Building on the Belfast Campus of the University of Ulster.

The number of staircases needed to provide means of escape from residential buildings can be considerably reduced by a smoke-ventilation system developed by Colt International. With local-authority approval the system is being installed in a residential building at the Angel Meadows development in Manchester. By extending the escape distance in the corridor from 7.5 to 18 m in one direction, the system has made it possible to omit one staircase, gaining usable space and reducing building costs.

Replacing fixed-speed R22 air conditioning in a large office block in Manchester with Toshiba inverter-controlled R410A equipment is reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by 24 t a year — with energy cost savings of up to £14 000 a year.

Moeller’s capability to adapt standard equipment to meet special needs was a contributory factor to the use of its low-voltage electrical distribution equipment for one of the tallest buildings in Wales. Ty Pont Haearn is a 21-storey purpose-built student accommodation block in Cardiff. It is owned and managed the student accommodation and hospitality company Unite and will accommodate around 750 students.

To harmonise with the interior decor of the Giraffe restaurant in Milton Keynes, architect Design LSM specified that the air curtain unit should be a ‘giraffe colour’. So as well as requiring a powerful output to minimise draughts, noise and pollution entering this 134-cover restaurant, the unit required a customised colour.