CentraLine’s key role in Wolverhampton Youth Zone
OnSide Youth Zones is a registered charity dedicated to providing young people with safe, affordable and inspiring places for them to go in their leisure time. OnSide has established a network of youth facilities across the UK, which includes the newly-completed ‘The Way’ in Wolverhampton.
The Wolverhampton Youth Zone has been purpose built to encourage young people to discover themselves, maximise their potential and lead more aspirational lives.
Offering a wide variety of activities — including fitness, sports and dancing, alongside the arts, music and media — OnSide Youth Zones provide real encouragement, supported by trained staff providing practical help to prepare young people with life skills to select their chosen career.
Located in Worcester Street, Wolverhampton, the Youth Zone opened in January 2016 to welcome young people aged 8 to 19, or up top 25 for those with disabilities.
The promise Wolverhampton Youth Zone makes to young people is threefold; someone to talk to; something to do; and, of course, somewhere to go.
The building and facilities of a Youth Zone are a critical part of OnSide’s commitment to young people. The secure environment enables them to enjoy themselves whilst gaining the confidence to raise their aspirations to be part of a healthier, happier generation.
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| Services in the Wolverhampton Youth Zone are controlled by a CentraLine system. |
The success of a building is ultimately dependent on the comfort and wellbeing of the occupants.
Young people are actively encouraged to understand and respect the building’s purpose, services and construction.
CentraLine by Honeywell Partner Digital Europe, working with Gill Mechanical Services, was given the responsibility of developing the design undertaken by Jonathan Richards Associates Ltd of Birmingham by engineering and commissioning the building-management system for the Wolverhampton Youth Zone.
Jonathan Lloyd, managing director of Digital Europe, says, ‘Wolverhampton Youth Zone was rewarding both from the technical aspect and being part of an important community project.
‘CentraLine Hawk AX is the ideal controller for this type of project, providing a wide scope of open-protocol integration combined with the onsite graphical user interface of the touch screen panel.
‘The ground-floor control panel includes a Hawk 330E integration controller, IO16 and IO34 input/output modules controlling an AHU (air-handling unit), boilers, constant- and variable-temperature water pumps, HWS generator and underfloor-heating pumps.
‘A second control panel on the roof also houses a Hawk 330E with IO16 and IO34 input/modules serving two AHUs, kitchen supply and extract and gas safety system.
‘Local underfloor heating control is by thermostats and manifold distribution, with separately controlled radiant heating in the sports hall.
A CentraLine CBH 7 inch fascia-mounted touch-screen provides operator access to the building management system, with Hawk AX onboard graphics and the possibility of remote internet access by PC or smart device in the future.
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| Ground-floor plant room |
Gavin Garner, project manager of WCP Associates, working on behalf of Bridgemere Plc, which managed the build said, ‘The delivery of Wolverhampton Youth Zone is an excellent example of a project that from the beginning ran smoothly, came in on time and within budget.
‘The building and the environment it supports is an essential element in inspiring young people that Wolverhampton Youth Zone is really providing a world class resource especially for them.
‘Indeed we do encourage young people to be involved with the design stage of a Youth Zone building.
‘The structure and its services are particularly important as we can use this to illustrate some of the potential careers open to young people in engineering, IT and energy conservation, which will be an important factor in the future of young people.
‘The building-management system is a good example of high technology being utilised to safely control the environment while encompassing a whole range of jobs and skills needed to deliver a complete system.’
Neil Blakemore, account manager for CentraLine by Honeywell, concludes, ‘This is a great project for illustrating the importance of the relationship of a building-management system with a building’s enterprise, which in this case is the support and development of the young people.
‘I look forward to working with our CentraLine Partner Digital Europe on similar rewarding projects in the future.’
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