According to the latest government data, the UK has around 380,000 listed buildings. While owners have the benefit of living or working in property deemed to have special architectural or historical interest and, in some cases, being of national importance, renovating these prestigious buildings in a way that preserves their heritage can be a highly complex process. The NU Construction team explores the complexities of renovating listed buildings and the benefits of working with a trusted and established heritage construction specialist.

Steve Warne, National Sales Manager at Ideal Heat Solutions, looks at the issue of accessing plant rooms to replace equipment and the solutions available to ensure it can be done safely.

What can be done to ensure a plant is operating efficiently - and, should a worst-case scenario occur, what happens when a plant fails completely and what are the risks in this case? Steve Warne of Ideal Heat Solutions provides answers.

Eur ing Dave Cooper, CEO of LECS UK, outlines the latest developments within BSI standards that govern brakes on lifts and outlines his key recommendations to keep brakes operating safely

Providing an inviting shop entrance and a comfortable working environment is a must for every business owner, and now thanks to Airbloc’s energy efficient air curtains and controller this can be achieved reducing power consumption and energy costs by up to 50%.

The 1st January 2018 is fast approaching and it is an important date because, following the EU's new regulations on F-Gases, it is when the first significant cut in the supply of HFCs happens - a huge 37%.

Colin Pearson shares his insights into an alternative to the traditional planned preventative maintenance method, and why it offers a way to think about maintenance planning that best suits each building, business and client.

Ex-Or by Honeywell has launched its DALI-in-a-Room addressable lighting control system.

Leading BMS specialist Trend Control Systems attended Education Estates 2017 in November, to showcase its latest energy-saving technologies suited to learning environments. The event highlighted how controls technology can make learning environments more resilient and sustainable, while ensuring high standards of comfort and wellbeing.

Around 1.5 million UK homes have wood-burning stoves and they continue to grow in popularity. Mike Harvey of HETAS explains why good maintenance practice is vital, and why installers can take the lead in helping users choose the correct fuel and keep the installation in good working order.

Protecting the health of building occupants isn’t rocket science, but it does need planning and competent people, says Kevin Kingaby of the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).

Guidance from BSRIA is aimed at helping clients, facilities managers and their organisations to understand better the key success factors in procuring maintenance contracts. It promotes ‘cutting-edge’ tender processes and procedures, and supports the development of contract documentation — as Clair Prosser explains

These boilers at a high-profile Government site in Swansea have been given a new lease of life and brought up to the standard of any new boiler on the market with the replacement of their burners with dual-fuel burners from Riello. The site is managed on behalf of Telereal Trillium by Arthur Portelli of Oakbury Building Services Consultants..

ThermOzone’s ReChill service has restored an 85 kW chiller (pictured) serving an office building in the west end of London to full working order for less than 40% of the cost of a new chiller and in a third of the time, just four weeks. Funding from the Carbon Trust contributed £7000 to the cost of the project at Woolverstone House in Berners Street.

In readiness for any failure of its primary boiler system, a major UK hospital has implemented an emergency contingency plan to ensure continuity of heating and hot water to wards, operating theatres and offices. The FM company responsible for the building services on this large site has contracted Watkins Hire to provide a standby system to replace the main boiler in the event of a failure, under the company’s TCEPS (temperature control emergency planning services) scheme.

Dimplex’s Quantum off-peak electric heating system has replaced outdated electric storage heaters in an industrial unit on a business park in Ashford, Kent, to improve efficiency and reduce running costs. The new heating system in the headquarters of Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce has raised the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) from F to E, making it compliant with the upcoming 2018 regulations on minimum energy performance standards for commercial buildings.

Paul Wightman of Albion Valves shares his enthusiasm for the benefits of a phased approach to upgrading building-services systems such as space heating.

Heating for St Mary’s Church in Saltcoats is more efficient and effective since the previous system was replaced with Rinnai 1004T gas-fired wall space heaters. Six heaters were installed, and Ross McWhirter, installation manager for O’Neil Gas Services, which installed them, says, ‘The biggest part of the job was lifting the floors and running gas and electricity supplies to the units.’

Historically, commercial heating systems have not received the same level of water treatment as domestic installations. Ross Anderson of the ICOM Energy Association explains why a new best-practice guide should help remedy this situation

The plant room of a school in Suffolk has been upgraded with the installation of a pair of Stokvis R605 boilers, an Econoplate plate heat exchanger and a 500 l buffer vessel to provide the school with all its heating and domestic hot water for washrooms, showers and catering. Westley Middle School in Bury St Edmunds has 468 pupils aged nine to 13 and hosts some 60 clubs each week, both at lunchtime and after school. Activities include basketball, soccer and badminton.

Energy savings of 20 to 25% are expected following the installation of five Remeha boilers as part of a major refurbishment of the heating plant serving the Civic Centre complex of Oldham Council. The key requirements for the council when replacing the 43-year-old failing boilers were to improve the reliability of the heating service and reduce operating costs.

With tighter regulations relating to space heating coming into force in 2018, implementing a proactive boiler replacement programme is more important now than ever, says Adrian Morris of Remeha.

Not only is LED lighting much more efficient than other types of lighting, but its maintenance factor is also very different, which affects how LED lighting specifications should be calculated, as Jamie Yates of Trilux explains.

With less than 12 months to go before the Government’s new energy bill comes into effect, Ideal Commercial Boilers is urging property investors and landlords to act now to get their properties up to standard and avoid lost revenues.

A high-end office refurbishment in the City of London is using air terminal devices from Waterloo Air Products to deliver exceptional air flow and enhance the building’s overall style. The Cat A fit-out of 108 Cannon street delivers 3250 m2 of office space over nine floors, complete with a communal roof terrace with panoramic views over London.

A dilapidation survey at Leasowes High School by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council led to the upgrading of the inefficient LPHW and HWS equipment. The existing atmospheric heating boilers were replaced with six Mikrofill Ethos 130 kW wall-mounted condensing boilers with an overall 60:1 modulation ratio right down to 13 kW.

The energy-efficient upgrade of a Grade I-listed 200-year-old hall of residence at the University of Cambridge sets a new standard for the energy efficient upgrade of the UK’s historic buildings, as Hywel Davies of CIBSE explains.

A variety of LED luminaires from Zumtobel form part of a major refurbishment opt the 19 000 m2 H1 office facility, formerly known as Seafield House, in Aberdeen. Lighting controls and emergency lighting from Zumtobel have also been installed.

When boilers are no longer meeting performance or efficiency requirements, building owners have the choice to refurbish or replace. Kevin Stones of Hoval highlights the key considerations

With over half of the UK’s mains water supply classed as hard, effective treatment plays an important role in the maintenance regime of any water heating system. Chris Meir of Andrews Water Heaters, explains why investing in water treatment from installation makes financial sense in the long run, and discusses the solutions available.

Panasonic’s gas-fired ECO G heat pumps have been used to help provide a new lease of life for a building in Birmingham that was approaching the end of its practical life. It is expected to be demolished in the next four years, but in the meantime has been refurbished to trial IKEA’s ‘Click and Collect’ store concept that is being rolled out across the country.

Within the building services industry, awareness of, and compliance with the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive is crucial. Many companies deal with their electrical waste effectively, however, there are still a significant number who are either unaware of their obligation, or fail to comply with the law. Shaun Donaghey of Electrical Waste explains the key issues for effective and compliant WEEE management.

The supply of hot water for the Malvern Hills Caravan Club site is now plentiful and consistent following the installation of four Rinnai continuous-flow water heaters to replace two storage water heaters. The site has 210 pitches and is especially busy from Easter right through to October.

The capabilities of the SFG20 standard for building maintenance have been extended with the capability of pulling through the SFG20 data and schedules directly into CAFM (computer-aided facilities management) or CMMS (computerised maintenance management system). Many contractors, building owners and FM managers use such third-party software to schedule and track work.

Fires in buildings can be big news, especially if people die. Smoke control systems can save lives — but only if they are functioning correctly, as Olly Lucas of SCS Group explains.

The replacement of existing CHP plant at Bedford Hospital includes boilers supplied by Mikrofill. The three Ethos boilers each have an output of 130 kW and will primarily serve the hospital’s HWS demand. They are configured to provide heat into the main system when hot-water requirements are at a minimum.

Access is critical to the safety of building-services engineers installing and maintaining plant on roofs. But what does this mean in practice? John Grenville of ECEX explains.

The latest heating system at Ashford International Railway Station in Kent has Baltur gas burners powering three Remeha sectional boilers to give a total output capability of 3 MW. The burners were supplied by EOGB Energy Products.

New pumps installed in a large bank in Denmark following an energy audit undertaken by Grundfos have achieved energy savings of 60% in operation. This performance has doubled the return on the required investment and reduced CO2 emissions, making it a sound investment opportunity.

Time-based maintenance schedules will almost certainly see equipment over-maintained or, perhaps worse, under-maintained. Stuart Marsh of ABM UK looks at a different approach.

LED lighting offers a highly-efficient alternative to traditional light sources for a range of building types — but without an effective control strategy, energy savings are typically only limited to the short term. Andy Davies of Harvard Technology explains how wireless lighting control systems can pay dividends for facilities managers willing to invest.

The energy- and carbon-reduction targets for refurbishing two listed buildings in Manchester were very demanding. Andy Bones of NG Bailey gives an insight into how they were achieved.

The OneStop water-conditioning product from Smith’s is designed to tackle the problem of limescale that affects 16 million homes in the UK, particularly in England and Wales. OneStop conditions mains water at the point it enters the home, preventing scale deposits and working on removing existing limescale.

Applying planned preventative to chillers not only ensure reliable cooling but also energy-efficient cooling, as Phil Philippou of ICS Cool Energy argues.

As part of the full structural reconfiguration and refurbishment of 33 Glasshouse Street in central London, AET Flexible Space supplied underfloor air conditioning. The building has a Grade 2-listed facade and was refurbished to form larger, open-plan floor plates and Cat A office accommodation on floors three to seven.

With the help of a Salix funding agreement, Coleg Cambria (College Of North East Wales) has improved over 490 light fittings, with an expected reduction in electricity consumption of 56% — worth over £11 000 a year. The new LED lighting will also reduce annual maintenance costs by about £6500.

Air-conditioning manufacturer LG has worked with contractor Sugoi Solutions on a £1.4 million project for a B&Q R22 refrigerant replacement programme. Air-conditioning equipment in over 250 stores was replaced with new equipment that meets the F gas regulations.

In response to the BESA (Building Engineering Services Association) ‘TR19 Guide to good practice — internal cleanliness of ventilation systems’ Interduct has developed a specialist chemical cleaning method for vertical risers. The method and product have been modified over the last four years, and the team now cleans over 500 risers a year.

Thorn Lighting has provided a one-stop shop for upgrading the lighting at Papa John’s new headquarters in Milton Keynes. Thorn’s brief was to achieve the upgrade to energy-efficient low-maintenance LED lighting while improving the overall illumination with the required maintained illuminance and 80% uniformity. The target was to providing an overall lighting efficiency for the building of not less than 60 luminaire lumens per circuit watt and provide various lux levels for different areas.

As a simple and cost-effective retrofit with a short payback, replacing fans having AC motors with fans having EC motors is hard to beat — As Adrian Trevelyan explains.