Radio City retrofit exploits solar energy
A listed community building in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, has been fitted with 240 solar thermal vacuum tubes from Kingspan Renewables to provide domestic hot water. Once an art deco cinema, Radio City now provides a range of facilities — including a gym, radio station, cafe, IT, office spaces and beauty rooms. The 25 m2 of HP200 Thermomax solar-thermal tubes was part of a large retrofit project to reduce carbon emissions and running costs. The project also include Solar PV panels.
The Thermomax tubes feed a pre-heat system to help meet up to 70% of the annual hot-water needs of this multi-use building — including showers and sinks in the gym area. The solar-thermal installation is expected to contribute nearly 13 MWh to the hot-water system annually and help Radio City avoid over 3.5 t of carbon emissions a year.
The tubes were specified and fitted by Glendevon Energy of Kinross. Sales director Jamie Adams explains, ‘It was a specific planning requirement that the solar thermal collectors did not impact on the view of the building from key vantage points, so we needed to find a solution that would effectively meet the hot-water needs of the building without damaging its appearance.
‘We chose Thermomax vacuum tubes because the smaller surface area of their manifolds make them much less obtrusive than competing products. They provided the solution we were looking for, integrating discreetly with the look of the Radio City building, whilst offering the highest level of efficiency needed to meet its demanding hot-water requirements.’
