Maintenance and staged improvements pay dividends at Cardiff concert venue
When Marcus Donoghue became logistics and plant manager of Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, the premier venue in Wales for indoor concerts and having a capacity of 5000 seated and 7500 standing, he found that just two of the main arena's air-handling units were operational — leaving no margin at all for reduced throughput or failure.
Being also responsible for energy efficiency, he quickly identified the potential to reduce carbon emissions by optimising air handling. However, replacing equipment was not an option, so he developed a regime of planned maintenance and staged improvement.
Working with Airmec, he commissioned a complete audit of the arena’s air-handling equipment. As a result of the plan put in place by Airmec, all the AHUs are now operation — giving a comfortable margin for error and failure at a cost that is only marginally higher than for routine and statutory maintenance only.
Following the success of this project, Airmec is now also responsible for water services — including monitoring for legionella and regular cleaning of water storage tanks.
