2012 November

J. S. Wright is to install services for the second phase of the Seager Distillery development in Deptford, a former distillery site in London, for Galliard Homes. This new phase of 137 homes is scheduled for completion in summer 2013. Work has already started on the installation of heating, ventilation, hot and cold water, and soil and waste services. Other work includes provided heating and boosted cold-water services to connection points in the risers.

Interserve is to deliver a £25 million radiotherapy centre at Colchester General Hospital as part of a ProCure21+ scheme. It will replace the current radiotherapy centre at Essex County Hospital and incorporate five ‘bunkers’.

Faced with just a week’s notice that a crane would not be available to lift the condensing units of a Toshiba VRF air conditioning system onto the roof of a retail store in Salisbury, Cool Designs responded by stripping down the units so they could transported by lift and stairs to the roof. Client Ailsen was carrying out refurbishment work for the store, which included six VRF condensing units.

A 5-year contract to deliver technical services to The Shard in London, the tallest building in western Europe, has been awarded to Cofely. This 95-storey, 110 000 m2 building contains retail, world-class offices, international restaurants, 5-star hotel, an exclusive collection of residences and London’s highest viewing galleries. Cofely will work closely with London Bridge Quarter Estates Management team during an initial mobilisation phase in preparation for the first tenants in 2013.

A cap and phase-down of F-gases is the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions from heating and cooling, according to the European Partnership for Energy & the Environment (EPEE). The organisation, which represents the heating and cooling industry in Europe, estimates that a phase-down of F-gases in the EU will reduce the direct impact of refrigerants by up to 65% in 2030.

Four student-accommodation contracts awarded to HE Simm are worth over £13 million. They are for full MEP services on projects in London, Leeds, Liverpool and Oxford. The company also works across the commercial, leisure, retail and healthcare sectors.

A key role in the charity fund raising abseiling down The Shard in London, reported last month, was played by a Bilco roof hatch. Members of the abseiling team, including Prince Andrew (pictured) emerged from the surface-mounted floor door on the 87th floor to reach the starting point for the 239 m abseil.

The Building & Engineering Services Association has given its support to the inclusion of air-to-water heat pumps in the Renewable Heat Incentive for the non-domestic sector. In its response to a Government consultation, the association also stresses the importance of a standard one-size-fits-all tariff to promote the most efficient system configuration.

Sudlows has been awarded a data-centre contract for the headquarters of the Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. The project, won in competitive tender in partnership with IT solutions provider Softcat, is for a 14-rack facility accommodating a 100 kW load. Adjacent plant space will house a new switchboard and UPS units, as well as providing for high-speed optical-fibre connectivity.

With meeting the demand for energy being so expensive, CIBSE president David Fisk has stressed the economic sense of persuading clients to focus on reducing their energy bills by making building services in their buildings perform better. Speaking at the CIBSE conference associated with the recent Building Services exhibition, Prof. Fisk highlighted the £3000 cost per kilowatt of output for building a new nuclear power station.

Panasonic has signed an agreement with Logicool Air Conditioning Distribution for its air-conditioning ranges to further increase product awareness, sales opportunities and long-term company growth. Logicool is known within the air-conditioning industry as one of the top distributors for some of the most widely recognised heating and cooling brands in the UK.

Cool-Therm has made its service operation paperless and dramatically speeded up service reporting by issuing all its air-conditioning and refrigeration field engineers with iPads. The move has also improved communication across the business. Managing director Ken Strong says, ‘Our efficiency has been doubled as a result. In addition, the quality of field and service reports is now outstanding. Our previous system used manual written reports, which were laborious to compile and lacked any personal touch.’

The first library to achieve a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating, Worcester Library & Historic Centre, with an overall score of 86.4% incorporates an M&E installation completed by Briggs & Forrester Engineering Services. The scheme for The Hive, recently opened by The Queen, has a cooling system using water from the adjacent River Severn and is predominantly naturally ventilated.

CIBSE and ASHRAE have named 22-year-old Lee Tabis Graduate of the Year for 2012. He is a trainee design engineer with engineering, IT and facilities-services business NG Bailey and received his award from CIBSE president David Fisk at an event sponsored by Lochinvar and Ruskin Air Management. His prize is a trip to the ASHRAE winter meeting in Dallas, Texas, in January 2013. He will be a VIP guest of ASHRAE and CIBSE’s ambassador for young engineers.

CIBSE is offering free student membership to full-time engineering students for the duration of their course and discounted membership (£33 a year) for those studying engineering part time. This will enable aspiring engineering students to become involved in the life of the institution and take advantages of valuable services for career and professional development.

Heating-controls manufacturer Danfoss is entering into the seasonal spirit with the return of its prize-packed Advent calendar competition. From 1 December until Christmas Eve 2012, visitors to the company site (address below) can click on the calendar for the chance to win prizes such as food hampers and shopping vouchers to the latest must-have electronic gadgets.

Maintenance work for the 63 sites of Marshall Motor Group awarded to Kershaw Mechanical Services covers the annual servicing and maintenance of gas- and oil-fired applications. The sites cover all levels of the automotive market — from prestige marques such as Jaguar and Land Rover to used-car centres and commercial vehicles.

Visitors to the Flakt Woods mobile smoke roadshow at several venues in the UK were given a live demonstration of the capabilities of the latest range of CE-marked smoke and fire dampers in commercial and residential applications. The demonstration showed the capabilities of circular fire dampers used as closing devices for preventing the spread of fire in ventilation ducts between compartments.

The number of homes connected to heat networks must increase 30-fold by 2050 to help meet the UK’s carbon-reduction targets, according to a report on domestic heating for the Electricity Networks Association. At present, just 1% of homes are on a network, and connecting more will reduce carbon emissions while keeping options open during a period of major transition.

Arla’s new flagship dairy at Aylesbury utilises 17 prefabricated modules assembled by NG Bailey to create its main services-distribution corridor. Each of the modules will be 12 m long and 3.5 m wide and will be designed and made at NG Bailey’s offsite facility in Bradford and delivered to site on standard step-deck trailers. Prefabrication enables the spine corridor to be delivered in five weeks, compared to the usual 12 weeks using more traditional methods.

The Department for Energy & Climate Change is advocating a new approach to retrofitting traditional buildings following new research by the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance (STBA), whose members include historic buildings and mainstream construction groups. The report calls for an overhaul of the retrofitting process to maximise the effectiveness of sustainability improvements to buildings built before 1919, which account for a quarter of the UK housing stock.

Grundfos Watermill’s Solar Star unit is specifically engineered to aid the filling and flushing of aqueous-glycol solar-thermal systems. Features include a Grundfos CM pump that can deliver 40 l/min at 2.5 bar, making these mobile units powerful enough to cope with light-commercial and domestic systems.

Hamworthy Heating’s DR-TC water heater combines solar-thermal technology and a condensing gas-fired support. Two models provide outputs of 40 or 60 kW, and they are supplied with a matching solar-transfer station. Trigon solar collectors fit perfectly with the system.

Pegler Yorkshire claims to have improved the performance of compression fittings for plumbing with its Kuterlite K900-Pro fitting. By revisiting the design characteristics of the compression nut and remodelling it, Pegler Yorkshire has enhanced engineering safety. Made to exceed the requirements of BS EN 1254-2, Kuterlite-Pro is recommended for all applications where the K900 was previously used, but particularly comes into its own in specialist areas such as chilled water.

Trion’s T-Series range offers a complete solution for effective kitchen ventilation and includes the T-Carb activated-carbon filter (pictured) to remove odours in restaurants, fast-food outlets, canteens, hotels and other catering outlets. The T-Carb filter unit has been developed for installation immediately after an air cleaner from the T-Series electrostatic range to remove odours from extracted air once grease, fat and other particles have been eliminated by the T-Series electrostatic unit.

Fronius Agilo inverters for solar PV installations are centralised units for 75 to 100 kW. They are fully installed and commissioned by the installer and can be fully serviced and repaired by a Fronius service partner. These inverters are compact and available as indoor and outdoor versions. They can be transported on an industrial pallet. Efficiency is 97.2%.

Toshiba Air Conditioning has launched a major initiative to improve skill levels and raise installation standards among contractors. It includes a training programme and a scheme to equip installers with state-of-the-art installation tools and commissioning equipment.

In response to a growing need to provide background ventilation for buildings in noisy surroundings Passivent’s SRT+ ventilator attenuates noise levels by up to 55 dB. These units do not need an electrical supply as they harness natural air movement and humidity.

CP Electronics’ series of HS PIR (passive infra-red) miniature presence detectors is designed for the automatic control of incandescent, fluorescent and compact-fluorescent lighting systems. Their functionality is fully programmable using CP’s UHS5 or UNLCDHS IR handsets.

The Boll 6.04 automatic water filtration system from Boll & Kirch is designed for cooling systems and described as virtual plug and play. Units come complete with motor, valve and controller for simple and easy integration into the OEM building-services installation. These units are available off the shelf to bring the benefits of automatic filtration at an economic price.

To minimise the risk of high noise levels from automatic extinguishing systems that use an inert gas damaging hard disk drives, Siemens Building Technologies Division has developed a discharge nozzle that reduces noise levels by around 20 dB(A). Extensive research by Siemens showed that high levels of a particular frequency from an extinguishing system discharge could seriously damage hard drives, and developed the Sinorix silent discharge nozzle to eliminate this risk.

Computer-centre cooling units that combine indirect free cooling with adiabatic humidification from GEA offer an airflow of 25 000 m3/h with a cooling duty of 100 kW. The extremely low operating costs of the Adia-Denco cooling system enable its amortisation after a short period.

A 6-pole structured wiring system from Wieland Electric has a patented coding system for different applications and round connectors to minimise space requirements and facilitate installation through firewalls. Metalynx2 is available in 20 and 32 A ratings and uses a minimal number of components that all lock together for secure installation in compliance with relevant standards.

Kensa’s Shoebox heat pump is designed to provide space heating and domestic hot water in apartment blocks with a communal ground array. Installations of the system qualify for significant financial support via Phase One funding of the Renewable Heat Incentive, paying up to 4.7 p/kWh.

Specially designed for use in large commercial, retail or industrial applications, Zehnder’s ZBN radiant heating and cooling panels can operate at low water temperatures for heating, making them an ideal partner for renewable-energy sources. They are suitable for buildings with a ceiling height of up to 30 m and said to offer potential energy savings of up to 40% compared to alternative technologies.

Grundfos Magna3 pumps are about to hit the UK market. Building on the success of the Magna range with its permanent-magnet motor and which was introduced in 2003, Magna3 is said to be the most efficient pump in its class available today.

With support from the Energy Efficiency Financing Scheme Kensington Windows & Doors in Derby has installed a wood-burning space heater in its workshop and solarPV panels on the factory roof. The £10 000 cost of the space heater is expected to be paid back in 30 months, and the £100 000 cost of the solar panels within eight years.

Megaman Liliput compact fluorescent lamps have been used throughout the new Meriden Bar & Restaurant at Birmingham Airport run by SSP. They were specified by Vivid Lighting as they offer a discreet light source within a compact fitting. They are claimed to be the world’s smallest energy-saving lamps and are available with B22 and E27 bases. They are suitable for retrofitting to luminaires originally designed for GLS lamps.

Ceiling tiles from Armstrong Ceilings incorporating phase-change material have been installed in the BRE’s latest innovation park in Scotland. The Coolzone system is in the main seminar area of the Ravenscraig Regeneration project and will help provide a stable and comfortable environment. Some 40 m2 of ceiling tiles have been installed.

An 87% reduction in electricity consumption for halls of residence of King’s College London has been achieved following the installation of sensor-controlled lighting from Steinel (UK) in corridors. To reduce emissions and meet CRC obligations, energy and environment manager Keith McIntyre looked carefully at areas of ongoing energy waste and identified that corridor lights in halls of resident were habitually left on.

To deliver efficient cooling for the server room of Hunt & Palmer, bespoke air-charter brokers of Crawley in Sussex, Accord Air devised a free-cooling system that can deliver over 60 air changes an hour. To prevent over-cooling in the winter months, the system is controlled using a simple thermostat to achieve a room temperature of 21°C.

Marco’s Elite uPVC trunking has been used in a large-scale extension at Treloar School & College in Hampshire for disabled children. It was installed by electrical contractor Baudelaire. There was a requirement to meet DDA compliance, which was achieved with a grey centre lid.

The whole-life costs of the UPS system for the major data centre in the Pyramid building of the Co-operative Bank in Stockport have been much reduced by using compressed air and ultra-capacitors to store standby energy, rather than a battery system. The Air-DRUPS critical-power solution replaces scores of lead-acid batteries.

Kentec fire control panels are at the heart of a new fire-detection system at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, a research institute of the University of Oxford. When the university decided to replace the 10-year-old fire alarm and detection system, it was agree with Pyrotec Services that the new system would be based around Hochiki’s Enhanced Systems Protocol, Hochiki devices and Kentec control panels.

Hanovia’s UV technology is disinfecting drinking water for a 5-star hotel in Vietnam. The system in the Crowne Plaza Groups flagship 5-star West Hanoi hotel removes potentially harmful micro-organisms from the incoming city water supply in line with World Health Organisation Guidelines for drinking-water quality. All Hanovia UV systems are designed to achieve a minimum 99.9% reduction in E.coli, Cryptospiridium, Giardia and other harmful micro-organisms.

Shenton Group has won the contract to install a Tedom Micro T30 CHP system at Ryedale Leisure Centre in Pickering. The company demonstrated to project consultant Preston Lee Chambers its ability to supply a compact and adaptable co-generation system and then provide design advice to integrate the CHP unit with the other systems in the building.

Lighting from Riegens has been installed at London’s Fenchurch Street Station as part of a general refurbishment of the station lighting. Specified by consultant Parsons Brinkerhoff, Riegens was chosen for the project for its expertise in providing bespoke lighting solutions, combined with high-quality standard products. The station has four platforms arranged on two islands on a viaduct. The main concourse is on two levels connected by stairs, escalators and lifts.

To meet a DHW demand of 20 000 l/h the newly built Hale Country Club & Spa in Cheshire has installed 17 continuous-flow water heaters from Rinnai. They were chosen by operator FX Leisure in preference to a storage system, which was judged to be inefficient and expensive. This 5-star club has all-encompassing health and fitness facilities — including luxurious indoor and outdoor wet areas, a selection of contemporary food and beverage offerings, and a sumptuous spa.

The Centre for the Scottish War Blinded, the Linburn Centre, was recently named Scottish project of the year by the Edinburgh Architectural Association for its curving geometry and energy-efficiency measures incorporated. These included a range of Grundfos pumps selected for their energy optimisation, including Magna pumps and a Hydro MPC-E.

Helping a £30 million luxury care home in Surrey achieve a BREEAM ‘Very good’ rating and meet local planning requirements is a 200 kW ground-source heat-pump system installed by Econic, part of Myriad CEG. The system cost £280 000 and will deliver £175 MWh a year of heat to reduce heating bills by an estimated £14 350 a year. Its peak COP is four using energy from 30 boreholes with a depth of 115 m.

The £21 million ProCure21 contract to redevelop the medium-secure unit at Langdon Hospital in Dawlish, Devon, saw Interserve using Kingspan’s KBS load-bearing system and a fully co-ordinated M&E approach. The system was developed with Interserve’s management team to address the specific needs of the project, which also included speed of build, dimensional accuracy, removal of site health-and-safety issues and robustness of the internal linings.