Priva Blue control systems helps preserve historic archives
Priva partner Heatherose has completed the control system for the recently extended Nottinghamshire Archives building using Priva Blue to control the indoor climate within strict tolerances to preserve historic documents dating back centuries. Nottinghamshire Archives houses important and historic documents for the county of Nottinghamshire, the city of Nottingham, the diocese of Southwell and Nottingham and other local bodies, families and individuals.
The BMS installation is part of a £2.5 million investment to extend the first and second floors. Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) issued a full specification to Heatherose so the company could begin planning the optimum BMS strategy.
Chris Burton, operations manager with Heatherose, said, ‘It was clear immediately that the application was ideal for Priva Blue ID. We knew we could control everything from one main panel in the plant room.
‘We had a blank canvas on which to work, as all the control controls were removed. Previously, there were mechanical humidity and temperature sensors that were read off graphs and adjusted manually to suit requirements.’
The new system oversees an AHU-based system with integrated heating and humidification controls. The BMS controls relative humidity to 47.5% ±0.5% and temperature to 16.5°C ±0.5 K.
Sensors on each floor of the building, not just the extended floors, ensure that the climate is controlled accurately in each archive room.
The Priva Blue hardware is on a single main panel in the plant room, with a front end offering access to specially designed pages via VPN. The graphics pages monitor and report on the entire operation of the building.
Nottinghamshire Archives is collating data to determine how much energy is being saved by this project.
