Fläkt Woods helps ICE increase event capacity
When the Institution of Civil Engineers needed to increased the capacity of the ducted air system at its Westminster headquarters within a 5-day period, Fläkt Woods rose to the challenge. The building is used all year round as a conference and wedding venue. To accommodate larger groups of people, the capacity of the main reception rooms needed to increase, along with the installation of a new commercial kitchen.
The project had to be completed during a working week between two busy weekends of events.
The AHU supplying the kitchen was a well maintained 20-year-old unit with a belt-driven centrifugal fans delivering about 1.5 m3/s. The extract unit comprised twin axial fans drawing about 2 m3/s.
Fläkt Woods removed the centrifugal fan and replaced it with an 071 Centriflow Plus PM plug fan with an inverter-driven 11 kW permanent-magnet motor delivering 5 m3/s .
The inline extract axial fans were replaced by a fanbox with the same-size plug fans and motor. It was designed to extract 5.5 m3/s and deliver the correct negative pressure.
Phil Ackers, head of building services at the Institution, commented, ‘The proposal from Fläkt Woods was ingenious and cost effective. The solution enabled us to minimise the downtime in the kitchen and significantly improve the environmental conditions.’
