2015 April

G&H Group, which comprises building-services, sustainability, fabrication and maintenance companies, has moved into new headquarters at Firlands Mill in Pudsey. The move follows several years of rising turnover to reach £18.5 million in 2014 — up from £14.1 million in 2013 and £10.8 million in 2021. The new site houses the office headquarters and fabrication welding facility.

Desigo Touch and Web is an innovative operating solution for the Desigo building automation system. Two intuitive touch panels (10 and 15 in) offer significantly more convenient and efficient operation of building plants than conventional solutions. A newly developed interface adds browser-controlled plant operation.

Against the background of a recent report that biomass boilers are achieving efficiencies that are too low for them to be promoted as a renewable source of energy, Dick Stephens of Euroheat argues that it is the sector that’s inefficient not the technology.

Many areas of high heat demand in England have an area of open water that could serve heat-pump installations. The DECC has produced a map, and Mitsubishi Electric has practical experience of the concept — as John Kellett explains.

Integrating solar PV systems into the design of a building can deliver very elegant solutions, but they are far from common. Jonathan Bates of Photon Energy looks at the issues involved.

A biomass boiler has been installed at Harrogate Grammar School as part of a project to modernise its heating and hot-water systems. The project involved G&H Sustainability completely stripping out the existing plant room and stripping out old gas-fired boilers , water heaters, pumps and pipework.

Lochinvar’s EcoCharger hybrid range of water heaters is a closely integrated combination of solar thermal and conventional gas-fired water heating that minimises the use of fossil fuel and achieves efficiencies of 96% (gross) and low NOx emissions (Class 5).

Contributing to the eco-friendly features of The Bright Building at the University of Bradford is a WindowMaster natural-ventilation system with an integrated intelligent window control package from Trend Control Systems. This building has a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating and at the time of the award had the highest BREEAM design-stage assessment on record of 94.95%.

Good control strategies are vital to gain the benefits of applying renewable technologies. Truly open protocols and an intelligent approach are the keys to success. Roger Woodward explains why.

Fuel costs for heating were more than halved following the retrofit of CA Group’s transpired solar collector to one of its existing buildings. The independent testing was carried out by BSRIA. and showed an annual saving of 304 MWh.

Gaunts Estate near Wimborne in Dorset is the site of three new district-heating schemes that are powered by three separate anaerobic digestion plants. Throughout the schemes, 1600 m of Rehau’s flexible, pre-insulated Rauvitherm pipework connects the anaerobic-digestion plants to the various farms, dwellings and countryside buildings on the estate.

Rinnai’s continuous-flow water-heating solutions can work with renewable-energy sources such as solar-thermal and air-source heat pumps. The concept is that the water heater tops up the temperature of stored water heated by renewable energy — but only when required.

The emerging industry for biomass has been hampered by lack of specialist expertise and comprehensive technical guidance. Colin Ashford gives an insight into how a CIBSE application manual will help.

A reversible heat pump and a thermal wheel are key features of Flakt Woods ventilation system installed as part of the refurbishment of the Arundel Building at Sheffield Hallam University. The system can supply up to 2.5 m3/s of conditioning air into a VAV (variable air volume) system and incorporates inverter-driven compressors. It replaces a natural-ventilation system.

AmbiRad’s SmartCom intelligent energy-management controller is compatible with radiant-tube, warm-air and many other types of heating system. It is straightforward and easy to use and has a wide range of energy-optimising features.

Marks & Spencer is to evaluate a central-heating additive that is claimed to be independently proven to reduce gas heating bills by 15%. The decision to try out EndoTherm from Endo Enterprises was made at the Big Innovation Pitch to M&S at the recent Ecobuild exhibition. The company will work with M&S to explore the possibility of applying the additive to the retailer’s estate.

New Forest District Council is looking forward to substantial reductions in heating costs following the replacement of boilers in 12 buildings that had heating running continuously with the only control being the boiler thermostat. Savings of up to £2500 a site will achieve a payback of just one year at current gas prices.

Fully addressable and networkable lighting control for Brighton & Hove Albion’s (The Seagulls) new training and teaching facility is provided by systems from CP Electronics. The state-of-the-art American Express Elite Football Performance Centre in Lancing, West Sussex, include CP’s Rapid and Vitesse systems. They were chosen for the flexibility and ease of configuration to any floor layout.

Face to Face Digital, a systems partner of North Building Technologies, has won the 2014 CEDIA award for best energy-management solution. The project is part of a major renovation of a Grade 1 listed country house dating back to 1425 and has reduced energy bills by 75% from the previous figure of £70 000 a year.

With business wanting ever-more control over their operations, Nadine Deery of Ex-Or wonders why so many organisations lack a system to manage their lighting.

The excess power represented by a mains voltage that is too high for a building’s requirements can now be stored for future use. Dr Alex Mardapittas of Powerstar explains.

EcoCooling reports having delivered 350 installations for data centres using direct-air evaporative cooling. The installations include data centres with power consumptions from 10 kW to 1 MW.

Variable-speed drives bring considerable benefits top booster sets — including energy use and life — and they can be retrofitted, as Richard Sharp of Xylem explains.

The Condair ME evaporative humidifier offers low-energy humidification and evaporative cooling to an air-handling unit or duct. A single unit can deliver up to 1000 kg/h of moisture and 630 kW of evaporative cooling to an air stream using less than 300 W of electricity.

Today’s energy-efficient boilers can only deliver their potential in a well designed and controlled systems — says Paul Sands of Stokvis Energy Systems.

Gilberts of Blackpool’s Mistrale 75 ventilation units achieve accurate and stable airflow and also have low air leakage and good thermal performance. Air leakage is as low as 5 m3/h.m2, with a U-value of 0.93 W/m2K, similar to a double-glazed window.

The Lindab Solus chilled-beam system conserves energy within a building by using high-temperature cooling (HTC) and low-temperature heating (LTH) in one common pair of water pipes working at a common inlet temperature. This means that regardless of whether the zone needs heating or cooling the inlet temperature remains constant, allowing you to harvest the energy saving benefits this brings.

With the growing use of CHP serving district-heating networks it is essential that these systems are designed to avoid wasting energy. Beata Blachut of SAV Systems explains how this can be achieved

Marflow Hydronics is to hold free CPD half-day training courses on pressure-independent control valves in Manchester on 30 April and London on 7 May. They are aimed at consultants, designers, specifiers and key influencers who want to learn more about the products, improve their skills, purchase or commission a PICV. Delegates should have a good prior knowledge of water-distribution systems.

Resource Data Management’s range of Intuitive controllers and TDB software give you the ability to easily create bespoke control solutions, both for simple and complex BEMS applications.

Cool Designs, the expanding Toshiba distributor, has opened a new air-conditioning training centre in Glasgow to serve installers in Scotland. It offers the full range of Toshiba courses covering theory and practical skills in installation, commissioning and trouble-shooting.

Rinnai, which specialises in continuous-flow hot water without a storage tank, has set up to team to provide fast responses to customers’ requests. The ‘Red-hot’ team comprises eight key individuals from all parts of the company’s operations. The service is a total process aimed at ensuring customers receive the most efficient fuss-free and unobtrusive service.

Carlo Gavazzi’s SB2WEB24 BACnet gateway has received European BTL certification as ‘BACnet application specific controller’ and it is listed by BACnet testing laboratories (BTL). This device is a configurable BACnet gateway that converts smart Dupline modules, smart Dupline signals and energy-meter data points to BACnet objects.

AMP Air has been recognised by Toshiba as one its most successful and long-standing air-conditioning distributors. Following 10 years of growth and success, the special award was presented at a strategy conference in Manchester.

S&P Coils (SPC) has announced that its Thermabeam radiant conditioning beams are fully BIM compliant. This new addition to the company’s Active BIM range means designers and architects can load Thermabeam objects into their Revit model using the company’s supplied type catalogues.

System UVEX has prepared a brochure that outlines the benefits of the management system for cooling water. It outlines the benefits of the system and includes case studies of the system in use.

CP Electronics’ latest catalogue contains information on its flagship range of programmable energy-saving controls, systems and connection products for lighting, heating and ventilation. It is described as a ‘must’ for everyone involved in the specification of lighting components and controls and is available for downloading or as a hard copy.

The free Wilo Assistant App for mobile Apple devices makes its high-efficiency pump technology available to specialist technicians and consultants. This information was previously only available in printed form or on the Internet. Versions for other types of smart-phone operating systems are being developed. Most of the information is available offline, as experience shows that reception in plant rooms is often poor.

Flakt-Woods has developed a CPD course on the application of jet thrust fans for car-park ventilation. Such fans are now the first choice for car-park ventilation throughout the UK, yet there is often a lack of cohesion in the industry when utilising jet-thrust-fan technology effectively.

In this age of BIM and information management, it is possible to forget that the key part of the information used during construction projects is the specification. It is the mechanism for designers to impart their detailed technical requirements for engineering services and systems.

Klima-Therm has signed UK distribution agreements for absorption chillers made by World Energy of Korea and centrifugal chillers from Chinese manufacturer Gree. The agreements add significantly to the range of services this chiller and air-conditioning specialist can offer, based on proven platforms from leading manufacturers.

Hushon now offers high-specification DC-inverter versions of its horizontal (ceiling-void) and vertical packaged air-conditioning units. They are available as cooling-only units or air-to-air heat pumps as packages or split systems.

As part of its prefabrication product portfolio, Marflow Hydronics offers larger, more bespoke items made to detailed specifications and more-compact standard items for a much quicker turnaround time.

Following field trials, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has confirmed that Sabien’s M2G boiler-load optimisers deliver significant energy savings when retrofitted to hot-water boilers — up to 14% in these trials.

Altecnic’s heat interface units are now collectively known as SmartSat. Smart features and benefits throughout the range include electronic control, intelligent bypass, digital commissioning, compensated heating temperatures and prepayment compatibility.

MHI’s Q-Ton air-to-water heat pump uses CO2 as the refrigerant and can heat sanitary hot water at up to 90°C. These 30 kW units can achieve a COP of 4.3. Water can still be supplied at 90°C with an ambient temperature down to -25°C. 100% capacity is maintained down to -7°C. A single 30 kW heat pump can produce up to 6000 l of hot water a day.

Viessmann now offers a combi boiler aimed at the specification market. The Vitodens 050-W boiler has a compact design, partly due to a reduction in the flue-to-fittings height. The boiler itself is 707 mm high and has an installation height of 825 mm. It a suitable replacement for outdated boilers in flats and apartments, where up to five boilers can be connected to a single vertical flue system.

The BlueDiamond range of condensate-removal pumps from Charles Austen Pumps has low power consumption and silent running — less than 21 dB(A). This range of condensate-removal pumps offers flow rates flow 8 to 50 l/h, enabling the installer to choose the most appropriate pump for a project.

Dunham-Bush’s System LST range of low-surface-temperature radiators is available in four case styles — wall-mounted, ‘wet floor’, high-output and tall units. and a wide range of lengths, heights and depths. Heat outputs range from less than 100 W to over 3500 W.

Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) offers a service to appraise a company’s current BIM process. It comprises a one-day BIM overview that provides an appraisal of current processes and provides an overview linked to specific proposals of how IES can work with the client to meet BIM level 2 standard. The appraisal is carried out by BIM AP-qualified consultants.

Gripple’s Angel hanger is designed for applications where visual appeal is important — such as architectural lighting, signage and acoustic baffles. There is a range of end fittings for suspending equipment. An extensive choice of ceiling-end fixings enable installation to a variety of substrates.