Retuning BMS improves comfort and cuts costs
Optimising the existing building-management system in an iconic London business location reduced gas consumption by £15 000 in the third quarter of last year. There was a need to update the Schneider Electric BMS as it had not been updated in response to changes in building occupants and their usage.
The FM team at 200 Aldersgate had identified numerous multi-tenancy energy challenges as the building is occupied by a variety of consumer and B2B tenants across sectors that include education, legal, catering, fitness and transport. Conflicting work practices, trading periods for retail premises and non-synchronised office hours of operation were resulting in the building running inefficiently.
Schneider Electric’s engineers worked with the FM team to identify key practices and understand how the building is used by tenants.
One area of energy waste was the boilers not being in sequence. One floor requiring them to be running would trigger the remaining boilers to turn on. Time schedules were being over-ridden, resulting in the building running 27/7 even if occupied by just one person.
To overcome these issues, the use of existing sensors was optimised so that only occupied areas of the building would be serviced and seasonal temperatures taken into account. The team also reviewed the boilers and chillers to ensure that the HVAC system were working effectively. Going forward, new sensors will be implemented where there is an energy-cost benefit, and faulty sensors will be replaced so that the optimised software works at maximum efficiency.
Mike Garman, technical services manager with BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Management, which manages the building, said, ‘We chose to partner with Schneider Electric as we knew that their engineers really understood what we were looking for.
‘Expectations have been exceeded and feedback from the tenants has been overwhelmingly positive, and the buildings’ occupants have commented on increased comfort levels. On top of this, the updates have also allowed us to save money and, hopefully, invest those savings into other projects,’
