2008 November

North Building Technologies has released a new version of its integration platform ObSys (Object Systems). The previous version sold over 10 000 copies.

If the cost of an energy-management system to reduce energy costs is prohibitive, Dave Laurence advocates wireless technology.

The BACnet open-protocol building-automation system for the 173 000 m2 Beijing Olympic Park Underground Commercial Centre was provided by Delta Controls — a world leader in providing BACnet open-protocol BAS systems.

Ridi Lighting’s Control3 lighting-control package is designed to achieve maximum energy and cost efficiency. It is software based and uses standard TCP/IP and DALI to provide complete access to building systems from a single interface. Users can manage their own environment from a PC pop-up or wireless control. The system can also make use of the existing data network and manual control switches.

Elkay’s new ceiling-mounted PIR timer can be used in new and existing buildings and is just 64 mm wide with an external bezel of 70 mm.

Ashdown Park hotel & Country Club in East Sussex is using EMS Group’s Universe+ ACU wireless interfaces as the basis of a recent security upgrade. The hotel has 106 bedrooms and is a listed 19th century mansion house, so it was important not to damage the interior during the upgrade.

The lead and sensing element of these temperature sensors from ATC Semitec are made of the same material to prevent water ingress.

Rick Stein’s recently opened Prospect House hotel in Padstow combines seaside luxury with cutting-edge building intelligence.

Tony Diffley, stadium manager at Aston Villa, is over the moon with the capabilities of the expanding Trend building-management system.Villa Park — the home of Aston Villa Football Club — has one of the most advanced building-management systems in any UK sports stadium. The Trend system enables the stadium manager to access the status of all monitored points from any PC terminal in the building, wirelessly from his personal digital assistant (PDA) or elsewhere via the Internet.

Tony Diffley, stadium manager at Aston Villa, is over the moon with the capabilities of the expanding Trend building-management system.Villa Park — the home of Aston Villa Football Club — has one of the most advanced building-management systems in any UK sports stadium. The Trend system enables the stadium manager to access the status of all monitored points from any PC terminal in the building, wirelessly from his personal digital assistant (PDA) or elsewhere via the Internet.

Tony Diffley, stadium manager at Aston Villa, is over the moon with the capabilities of the expanding Trend building-management system.Villa Park — the home of Aston Villa Football Club — has one of the most advanced building-management systems in any UK sports stadium. The Trend system enables the stadium manager to access the status of all monitored points from any PC terminal in the building, wirelessly from his personal digital assistant (PDA) or elsewhere via the Internet.

Making full use of low-carbon technologies for space heating necessitates a fresh view and a more holistic approach, says Ant Wilson of Faber Maunsell.

This luxury residential development at Southport in the north west of England is served by Evenheat underfloor heating. Royal Park comprises 24 apartments and three mews houses in a small landscaped park within easy reach of long sandy beaches and a bustling city centre.

Following an energy survey by the Government agency Resolve, a hotel near Bridgend has replaced two outdated heating and hot-water boilers with a modern Buderus system which is expected to pay for itself within two years. The agency recommended a complete new solution to meet the total needs of the 28-bedroom Coed-Y-Mwstwr Hotel in Coychurch.

BSS Industrial has added an LST version to its BOSS RIOpanel range of radiators.

BSS Industrial has added an LST version to its BOSS RIOpanel range of radiators.

Purmo’s vertical Kos V radiator combines a minimalist appearance with high heat outputs. These radiators have a flat from panel and closed, curved side covers.

The heating industry has made a strong response to Government legislation to encourage energy efficiency, and the specification of high-efficiency condensing boilers has steadily increased. However, to maximise efficiencies Graham Williamson, business director of commercial heating at Ideal Boilers, stresses that installers now need to take into account more factors than simply upgrading to a high efficiency boiler.

The heating industry has made a strong response to Government legislation to encourage energy efficiency, and the specification of high-efficiency condensing boilers has steadily increased. However, to maximise efficiencies Graham Williamson, business director of commercial heating at Ideal Boilers, stresses that installers now need to take into account more factors than simply upgrading to a high efficiency boiler.

The heating industry has made a strong response to Government legislation to encourage energy efficiency, and the specification of high-efficiency condensing boilers has steadily increased. However, to maximise efficiencies Graham Williamson, business director of commercial heating at Ideal Boilers, stresses that installers now need to take into account more factors than simply upgrading to a high efficiency boiler.

Philip Ord believes that if a building requires cooling, the same system should also be used to provide heating — reducing energy costs and carbon emissions.

Interest in renewable energy continues to soar as fuel costs rise and legislation to reduce carbon emissions from non-domestic buildings comes into force — and heat pumps have much to offer, says Karen Trewick.

Mitsubishi Electric has added two new models to its Ecodan range of air-source heat-pump space- and water-heating products. The Ecodan series is now packaged with a wider range of tank sizes and specifications and is also available as a standalone solution for situations where a packaged solution is not required.

With the UK catching on to Europe’s enthusiasm for wood-burning boilers, George Fletcher explains how to get the best from this carbon-neutral technology.

Fan convectors can be up to 31% more energy efficient than panel radiators, according to research carried out by BSRIA for Smith’s Environmental Products.

Dunham Bush’s AM88 fan convector introduces preheated fresh air to the space at the appropriate volumes, irrespective of weather conditions. The same facility is also available with Avant-garde fan convectors, optimised for use with condensing boilers, and the recently introduced LST range of fan convectors.

Potterton Commercial has added two larger models to its Paramount Two range of wall-hung high-efficiency condensing boilers, which now offers outputs of 30, 40, 60, 80, 95 and 115 kW for commercial and larger domestic applications.

Keith Sprague explains why carefully considering the heating requirements of a building will bring long-term economic benefits.

By switching from an oil-fired central-heating system to an Ecodan air-source heat-pump system from Mitsubishi Electric, the owners of a 300-year-old house near Marlborough are expecting to reduce fuel bills by around £500 a year and halve carbon-dioxide emissions.

Wet underfloor heating can be provided in a depth of just 25 mm using Chelmer’s Ecomat with a self-levelling screed and special insulation board — making it ideally suited to the retrofit market. Its response time is 25 minutes.

Burner specialist Riello has upgraded several ranges of oil-fired burners. They are the RL and RLS dual-fuel commercial burners and the RDB and R40 residential models. The new designs include new pump features in response to recent changes in UK fuel specifications.

Providing a renewable energy heating solution in existing or new homes makes environmental sense but it can be costly. Heat-pump manufacturer Calorex and its strategic partner E.ON, has come up with the solution of delivering a fixed-price ground-source heat-pump installation package supported with grants from either the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) or Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). This could mean, for qualifying installations, up to 85% of grant funding towards the supply and installation of ground-source heat pumps.

The message of Creda’s ‘Here today...here tomorrow’ promotional campaign for its new TPRIII Electronic range of panel heaters with advanced central programming control is that it is the most sustainable solution for domestic heating in the future.

As part of ASDA’s comprehensive energy-efficiency programme, the recently opened store at Bootle, Merseyside, incorporates 35 Monodraught Sunpipe systems 450 mm in diameter to bring daylight into a wide area of the first-floor mezzanine. This area includes a customer restaurant overlooking the sales floor, staff facilities with restaurant and cafeteria, communal changing room, meeting room and offices.

BCIA President Doug Robins, president of the Building Controls Industry Association, explains how building controls offer a cost-effective solution to reducing expensive waste in today’s business environment.

As the world seeks practical, market-based solutions to turn the tide against environmental degradation, illumination management comes under scrutiny from John Gunton.A complete revolution in illumination management — most particularly presence sensing — is essential for environmentally and commercially viable lighting systems of the future. The lighting industry needs to rethink three key elements of illumination management.

There are no centralised motor-control panels in Stanhope’s recently completed £55 million Bow Bells development in London’s Cheapside. Instead, the structure and specification for the highly intelligent control in this 20 000 m2 development called for extensive localised control of variable-speed drives. The installation of the systems to control the plant and achieve the objective of exceeding the requirements of Part L by more than 20% was carried out by Integrated Control Systems in a £650 000 contract awarded by Bovis Lend Lease.

Hotels are facing new energy challenges, and Sophie Ranson explains how building and energy-management systems are being used to reduce carbon emissions in the hotel industry.

When Oundle School, a boarding school with 1050 pupils, built a new facility for its biology and chemistry departments, it wanted a single, automated building-management system that could be serviced and maintained by the school’s own team of technicians. That requirement has been achieved with the installation of Tridium’s Niagara Framework by Andromeda Telematics to integrate all building-control functions onto one common platform.

Mitsubishi Electric’s latest touch-screen centralised controller can control up to 50 indoor units on an air-conditioning system. The AG150 has a 23 cm 800 x 600 pixel touch-screen display, and the G50 WebPages are available with it.

Sensible AC, LG’s air-conditioning distributor in Ireland, has expanded into the UK with the opening of a branch office in central London. The office is at 5 St John’s Lane, EC1M 4BH, tel. 020 7549 2826.The company has been involved in some of the largest VRF contracts in Ireland over the last 12 months.

This electric scissor lift from AFI-Uplift’s Scotland depot was one of five hired by contractors working on the construction of a new secondary school at Milngavie, Glasgow.

KAC Class 9000 family of actuation devices have a wide variety of operating mechanisms and can be used across the fire, security, machine operation and other industries where manual control of specific operations is required. The various options within the family enable operation with or without security restrictions.

Britannia Rainwater Recycling Systems has produced a comprehensive brochure on the recycling of rainwater. It runs to 20 pages and explains how rainwater can be used to substantially reduce the use of mains water. It also explains the two main systems for harvesting rainwater and their variants.

Armstrong World Industries has launched a new micro-site to help specifiers choose the best acoustical solution for their projects. This web site enables visitors to easily compare the product specifications of Armstrong’s complete acoustical range — including mineral wool, wood and metal tiles. There are full details on i-ceilings sound panels, an invisible in-ceiling speaker system designed to improve audibility in schools. Among useful selection tools is a reverberation simulator to compare the different reverberation times of various tiles to help specifiers make the best chose for their desired sound quality. Case studies are also featured.

Cool-Therm, which specialises in commercial and industrial air conditioning and refrigeration, has opened a new branch near Reading. This is the company’s third branch and is near junction 12 of the M4.

Goodmarriott & Hursthouse’s apprentice of the year for 2008 is Matt Baker (right), a 19-year-old apprentice from Bramcote, Nottingham. He is the fourteenth apprentice for the scheme, which was set up in memory of a former apprentice electrician who died in a holiday accident in 1994.

A new e-mail and online business information service for building-services companies has received enthusiastic support from the industry.

A new e-mail and online business information service for building-services companies has received enthusiastic support from the industry.

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers has joined forces with Amtech to promote the National Engineering Specification*. The NES software packages Specification Expert and O&M were acquired by Amtech earlier this year, and the company is committed to maintaining the support currently enjoyed for the NES products.

Over 150 sixth-form students from across London took part in this year’s ‘Engineering your future’ (EYF)event at the Institution of Civil Engineers. This one-day event is now in its eighth year and aims to provide students and teachers with a better understanding of the opportunities offered by a career in engineering.