2007 October

Ron Bernstein reflects on what he perceives as the open-systems myth and provides a perspective on marketplace confusion in the quest for truly open systems.

Growing demand for sustainable buildings is creating increased demand for traditional building services skills, says John Miller, president of the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association.

Gateshead has become the first local authority in the UK to recycle its redundant lighting equipment since the introduction of the WEEE Directive (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) in July.

Pilkington has developed an insulating glass unit for windows that can be used with most frame materials to achieve a Window Energy Rating of at least C and easily exceed the requirement for compliance with Part L of the Building Regulations.

Helping companies moving into an office development at 15 Fetter Lane in the City of London reduce their carbon emissions is a lighting-management system from Ex-Or.

In a building with the right energy balance, using solar energy to produce domestic hot water can meet the 10% renewable requirement. Yan Evans gives practical advice how to get the best from this technology.

IES Consulting worked closely with consulting engineers King Shaw Associates (KSA) to provide independent validation of the design for the building that has achieved the highest-ever BREEAM score. The Green Office project at Thorpe Park, Leeds, has achieved a BREEAM score of 87.55%. The design was validated before construction began.

Exploiting thermal mass within a building can eliminate the need for air conditioning. Tom De Saulles explains how.

DAB Pumps’ Aquaprof collects rainwater and uses it for purposes such as flushing toilets, washing machines, garden irrigation and vehicle washing. This water is delivered at mains pressure. If there is not enough stored rain water, the Aquaprof switches to an integral back-up tank containing mains water.

Two ground-source heat pumps provide heating and hot water for a development of 12 apartments and two penthouses on the Clipper Cove development at Praa Sands on the south coast of Cornwall.

Monitored energy results for the first year of operation of the Archbishop Ryan School in Dublin indicate that its energy performance is twice as good as that of a school constructed to meet the good-practice targets outlined in CIBSE Guide F. Energy consumption was monitored by the Priva control system installed by Temperature Control Systems to optimise the operation of lighting and heating systems in response to the benefits of passive solar gain, daylight and natural ventilation.

OFTEC has brought together leading manufacturers and several industry bodies to research and define a clear British standard for liquid biofuel for the heating sector.

Glow-worm is entering the solar market with a range of products branded Clearly Solar. There are four products in the range.

Nu-Way’s EcoMass 75 range of biomass boilers is designed for commercial and industrial use, with five models providing outputs from 100 to 750 kW.

Keith Melton reflects on the thinking that is needed to deliver sustainable buildings.

Natural-ventilation systems that can respond fully to ever-changing outdoor conditions are much more effective than systems with limited response capability. Richard Arnott explains.

One of the UK’s largest building-services providers has launched its first sustainability report detailing its approach to social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Having become involved in a working project that was suffering co-ordination problems, Fulcro Engineering Services was able to use AutoCAD software to help put things right quickly.

Grundfos is moving into the third phase of its project to increase awareness of how using efficient circulators can significantly reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. The project started in 2005 with the launch of the world’s first A-rated domestic circulator — the Alpha Pro.

Over a hundred HVAC drives with native BACnet capability have been installed in the new Blackburn Hospital to control water pumps and motors for air-handling units. One of the key benefits was a significant time saving during commissioning.

Lee Tebbatt explains how variable-speed pumps very quickly repay their extra capital cost in vastly reduced running costs.

The Wilo-Stratos ECO high-efficiency pump has been given an 'excellent' rating by the German consumers’ association Stiftung Warentest. It came top in tests as the best in energy efficiency and ratio of price to performance compared to all other small circulating pumps.

Smedegaard has developed a range of electronic energy-saving circulators that use up to 60% less energy than a standard pump.

Designing systems with duty and standby pumps that can both meet maximum demand is must not efficient. Wayne Rose explores other approaches.

To help customers decide which pumps would best suit their needs, regardless of the application, Grundfos provides a range of selection tools —which have become industry standards. These aids are constantly reviewed and updated to keep them relevant.

Replacing pumps in 12 plantrooms at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth with equivalent pumps from Wilo’s energy-efficient range will reduce energy consumption by £70 000 a year — a useful dent on the electricity bill of over £1 million a year.

It is over 60 years since a death was recorded in the UK in a building with a working sprinkler system. Glynn Williams cuts through the complexities of using pumps to protect against the risk of fire.

There is very little to be gain by improving the efficiency of pumps to reduce their energy consumption. Much more can be saved — about half — using speed control and the better design of systems, as John Veness explains.

Nearly a third of construction refurbishment sites inspected by the Health & Safety Executive put the lives of workers at risk — according to the HSE’s head of construction, Stephen Williams.

Leading bodies in the construction industry have endorsed the Office of Government Commerce’s Fair Payment Charter, which commits public-sector clients and their principal contractors and supply-chain members to formally adopt fair-payment principles in future construction projects.

During his visit to the new premises of Andrews Water Heaters at Erdington, Her Majesty’s Deputy Lieutenant for the West Midlands, Colonel Anthony George, MBE, presented the company with the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation Category and Grant of Appointment for development of the MAXxflow condensing water heater. He also opened the company’s commercial-heating training academy.

To promote the wide range of services available from the HVCA group of companies, the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association has launched HVCA Business Plus. This initiative is aimed at building-services-engineering contractors.

Kimpton Building Services in The Wirral in north west England has teamed up to with a building contractor and an electrical contractor to pool the expertise of each company and offer clients a single point of contact across the three trades. The consortium is called TKR, and its single point of contact eliminates the involvement and costs of using sub-contracted operatives. The other members of the consortium are building contractor The Trustland Group and electrical contractor The Rosebery Group.

Dame Ellen MacArthur, the record-breaking round-the-world yachtswoman, launched CIBSE’s 100 days of carbon clean-up campaign at the Energy Event last month. She has become a champion of the campaign, thanks to her on-going partnership with the campaign sponsors E.ON, represented in the picture by Tim Pyke (right), head of climate change at E.ON.

National air-conditioning distributor Oceanair UK teamed up with Sanyo Air Conditioner to sponsor Lee Jackson and Glen Raven of Lee Jackson Air Conditioning in the 2007 Cannonball Run Europe rally. They drove their Porsche turbo cabriolet through 11 European countries, starting from Sandown Race Course in Surrey. Stops included Lake Garda in Italy, Slovakia, Budapest, Berlin and Antwerp — to finish in the UK in 18th position in a 60-strong field.

The new Serpentine Solar Shuttle operated by BlueBird Boats in London’s Hyde Park is entirely powered by solar energy. On the canopy of this 14.3 m catamaran, which can carry 40 passengers, are solar cells that can generate up to 2 kW of power and which are used to charge batteries. The batteries supply two 3-phase drives via an inverter system. These drives have a total output of 20 kW, enabling the boat to reach 15 km/h.

There are estimated to be 20 000 unfilled jobs in the consultancy and engineers sector, according to a new report by the Association for Consultancy & Engineering (ACE).

The Manchester office of consultants White Young Green has been selected to act as M&E consultant for an innovative £58 million project for St Helens College in Merseyside.

Johnson Controls has reported its biggest-ever order for York chillers. 46 water-cooled chillers are destined for a project in Pearl Island, Qatar to cool 15 000 residential and commercial units. These chillers will deliver over 130 000 t of chilled water each day. Each has a cooling capacity of 8.8 MW and uses R134a.

Briggs & Forrester has been awarded a £2.7 million contract to design and install the M&E for building 101 on Cambridge Science Park, with Shepherd Construction.

Following the recent merger of CCL Veloduct and Lindab, the company is to be known simply as Lindab. The name change marks the last step in a programme begun a year ago with the acquisition of CCL Veloduct by the Lindab Group of Sweden in a £27 million deal to create a major company in ventilation and air movement.

Axair Climate is changing its name to Walter Meier (Climate Solutions) Ltd. The change takes effect on 1 January 2008 and is the new name for all companies in the Walter Meier Holdings Group. The move is intended to provide greater recognition of the complementary areas of expertise within the group and the synergies between them.

HVCA president John Miller has challenged the Government to enforce important changes introduced last year to Part L of the Building Regulations.

Building on its Green Gateway Initiative launched earlier this year, Mitsubishi Electric Living Environmental System UK is no longer promoting cooling-only air-conditioning products in the UK — and is phasing out all existing models from its stock.

AMEC has sold its building and facilities-services business (BFS) to SPIE SA for a cash consideration of £117 million.

Continuing a relationship with St Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Harrow, Argent is now responsible for ongoing maintenance of all the building’s services. The scope of the contract includes biannual servicing of the college and chapel boilers, visual inspection of all plant and 24/7 emergency call-out.

The installation of HCP ceiling-mounted radiant-heating panels in the new £60 million cardiothoracic centre at Basildon Hospital maximises the use of floor space and provides a heating solution that is easy to clean.

Trox UK has supplied fan-coil units for a Land Securities development in London. The contract is worth around £2 million and is for airside FCUs for New Street Square mixed-use estate on a prominent site in New Fetter Lane.

At the heart of the building-management system in the new headquarters of Chevron in Aberdeen is the ability to contact security staff anywhere on site to immediately advise them of any critical alarms. It uses SMS (short messaging service) to contact security staff via their mobile telephones while they patrol the site. That message provides sufficient information for them to take immediate remedial action or contact the site’s provider of service and maintenance.

Heating and hot water for the separate areas of old City of Derby jail complex that has been completely refurbished as a destination venue is provided by a range of Buderus boilers.

Controlled natural ventilation using the WindowMaster ventilation system and Windcatcher units from sister company Monodraught is part of the environmental strategy for the Innovation & Business Base in Luton.