2006 February

Field
The 2006 Building Regulations present new challenges and opportunities for building-services engineers. JOHN FIELD is chairman of the Carbon Task Group of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers and outlines their scope.
Trox
Trox (UK) has invested £40 000 in a new facility to test fan-coil units. to the requirements of BS 4856 Part 1 1972.
Prison
Part of the transformation of a former prison into a luxury Malmaison Hotel includes the installation of 77 chilled beams to convert the former cells of A-Wing t Oxford Castle into opulent bedrooms. Trox (UK) supplied these passive beams in a contract worth £100 000 and customised their design to blend in with their surroundings. Trox also supplied a range of fan-coil units, attenuators and grilles for the project.
Frenger
Frenger has supplied multi-service chilled beams for Saffron House in London that are just 140 mm deep. This listed building has minimal slab-to-slab height. As a speculative office development, it required exceptional heating and cooling capacities from the shallowest possible depth.
Carrier
Carrier’s quietest fan-coil unit to date is the Atmosphera, designed for concealing above ceilings.
test room
With the environment in which they are installed having a significant effect on the performance of chilled ceilings and beams, WILLIAM BOOTH explains the benefits of mock-up testing.
Module
Maximising the energy-saving potential of variable-speed pumping systems in air-conditioning systems using fan-coil units demands action up close — says LARS FABRICUS.
beam
Integrated service modules based on chilled ceilings have the potential to transform building design and project management. explains. ANDREW JACKSON.
Breezair
Excessive indoor temperatures in the group head office of Garden & Leisure have been brought under control by installing a Breezair evaporative air cooler from Seeley International.
t-mac
An Internet-based approach to using existing instrumentation as part of remote management for energy monitoring and plant maintenance is offered by t-mac Technologies.
Phase 3 of the London Bioscience Innovation Centre, comprising 23 new office suites with adjoining laboratories, are fully air conditioned by five Daikin VRVII heat-recovery systems.
Guildford
Sophisticated lighting-management and control systems from Ex-Or were specified for the showcase 2-storey extension to the learning resource centre of Guildford College of Law.
Biddle
Biddle has enhanced the design of its Forceflow fan-convector heaters to operate with lower water temperatures — such as those delivered by condensing boilers.
Ecocooling
EcoCooling has added side- and top-discharge evaporative coolers to its ECP range. They are designed for the commercial and industrial market to provide a simple, safe and low-cost cooling for people and processes.
Eurex
Packaged ventilation units from Eurex Energy incorporate a thermal wheel to exchange energy between the two air streams. There are three models in the RotOvent series, offering airflows from 10 to 180 l/s.
Dimplex

Electric heating meets Part L

19 February, 2006
Against the background of the forthcoming Building Regulations, Dimplex has enhanced its approach to electric space heating to achieve carbon savings of up to 10% over conventional off-peak heaters.
HCM4
The HCM4 heat-calculating meter from Meters UK uses digital high-accuracy sensors (DHAS) to measure pipe temperature, avoiding the problems associated with platinum-resistance sensors and their complex installation requirements. DHAS sensors can be strapped onto pipes, rather than placed in designated pipework pockets.
Simmtronic
Simmtronic has supplied the fully addressable digital lighting-controls system for a new corporate office building on the new Spinningfields development in Manchester. Due for completion in March, 2 Hardman Street is an 8-storey building offering 13 300 m2 of office space and a basement car park.
Tesco
As part of its continuous drive to save energy, Tesco has incorporated rooflights, Sunpipes and a wind turbine at its new store at Diss in Norfolk. Airtightness services are being provided by BSRIA as part of continuing collaboration for over 13 years to achieve airtightness specifications way below those required by the Building Regulations.
Velta
Renewable energy from an underground aquifer serves an underfloor heating/cooling system in a recently completed school project in Holland. The Velta Contec system serves an area of 14 600 m2 in the Harlemmermeer Lyceum at Hoofddorp near Rotterdam.
SE
A natural-ventilation system from SE Controls has been specified for the Jubilee Library in Brighton. It has been designed by architects Bennetts Associates with Lomax Cassidy & Edwards as part of a £45-million scheme to transform a run-down area in the heart of Brighton with the creation of a new square, hotel, residential, retail and leisure buildings. The library itself has been designed to represent the future of public libraries.
Rinnai
To enable old, balanced-flue heating systems to be replaced with its powered-flue units, Rinnai UK has developed a flue-conversion kit.
Dalkia

Developing tactics

19 February, 2006
IAN ADAMS offers advice on how building services contractors, facilities managers and building owners can take a tactical approach in preparation for the introduction of the new Building Regulations.
Simulation

Demonstrating compliance

19 February, 2006
With the performance of the entire building being what the new Building Regulations seeks to maximise, building-simulation software comes into its own. DAVID McCEWAN explains how such software is the key to integrated design.
Microgen Energy and Dutch boiler manufacturer are working together to commercialise an alternative to the traditional heating boiler. The microCHP appliance produces electricity and heat and could achieve energy savings of 25% for an average household. Remeha is represented in the UK by Broag.

Getting to grips with Part L

19 February, 2006
ANT WILSON of FaberMaunsell outlines the effect of energy-efficiency issues in the new Building Regulations for building-services engineers

The role of the Carbon Trust

19 February, 2006
The statistics of carbon emissions from buildings show just why the forthcoming Building Regulations are so timely.DR GARRY FELGATE explains how the Carbon Trust can help
Lights
The Government’s long awaited changes to Part L of the Building Regulations will set more onerous limits on the energy efficiency of lighting in domestic and non-domestic buildings. Just what’s involved is explained by HUGH KING.
Commissioning
With the growing use of variable-speed pumps comes the demise of proportional balancing. DUNCAN SELBY discusses this new world of commissioning.
Taconova
Multi-apartment buildings and multi-storey flats need a centralised approach to energy-efficient plant and exploiting renewable energy, while still permitting individual control and metering for each dwelling. JOHN COOPER explains how this could be achieved.
Within 24 hours of Watkins Hire receiving a call from the consultant to a school suffering from boiler failure, a mobile solution delivering 350 kW had been delivered and made operational.
Walsall
The responsibility of ensuring that air conditioning serving a range of sites of Walsall Council runs optimally and with energy efficiency as a key driver is the task of EWS, part of the Eaton-Williams Group. The brief covers the Civic Centre, the Council House and 10 other satellite sites across the town, including the Central Library and Bloxwich Leisure Centre.
AET
Problems with restricted headroom during the refurbishment of the headquarters of Cobelfret Ferries UK have been overcome using the Flexible Space Systems from Advanced Ergonomic Technologies. The company’s headquarters is at Purfleet in Essex, and it operates a core fleet of 21 vessels specifically designed for short-distance roll-on, roll-off operation.
Liebherr
Space heating for the 18 m-high 5000 m2 factory of Liebherr-Great Britain at Biggleswade is provided by a Nor-Ray-Vac continuous-radiant-tube system designed by Ambi-Rad.
Boilers
The problems of aging boiler plant at the Crown Hotel in Weymouth have led its replacement with equipment from Stokvis. The new installation comprises two Econoflame R307 modulating boilers and the splitting of the supply of hot water into two separate zones.
Monodraught
The requirement for electric lighting at a power station in Lincolnshire has been reduced following the installation of 16 Monodraught Sunpipes 530 mm in diameter. West Burton Power Station has a generating capacity of 2 GW, and the Sunpipes were installed to bring natural light into the control room, which operates 24 hours a day, to replace the need for electric light during the day.
Ferroli
The ability to deliver two cast-iron boilers in two weeks, each with an output of 590 kW, led to Ferroli winning a contract to replace three outdated coal-fired boilers at an educational site in Wigan.
Pool
Swimming has been restored to the activities at the Kingswood Centre in West Runton on the Norfolk coast following the installation of a new heating system.
Crane

Crane valves reach new heights

19 February, 2006
Britain’s tallest residential building, the 47-storey Beetham Tower in Manchester, has its hydronic balancing and isolation requirements served by Crane Valves.
Dunphy
While renewing and refurbishing its coal-fired energy centre Doncaster Royal Infirmary has installed three prefabricated and temporary burner/boiler units to main the supply of heat and steam.
Epson
To reduce the electrical energy required for cooling clean rooms in Epson’s 42 000 m2 facility at Telford, two existing Airedale chillers have been replaced with three Airedale Ultima 750 kW FreeCool chillers.
Samsung Electronics has expanded its distribution channel for air-conditioning products with the appointment of United Refrigeration UK as a distributor.
LG is the world’s largest manufacturer of air-conditioning products for the sixth consecutive year, according to independent auditors. The company has sold over 10 million units in consecutive years.
Watts

What’s changing at Watts?

19 February, 2006
Pipework-fittings specialists Watts UK and Watts Martin Orgee have combined forces under the new name Watts Industries UK Ltd. The complementary businesses will operate as a fully integrated division of Watts Industries Group.
SES
Less than six months after SES launched its revamped apprentice scheme to 28 budding engineers, the benefits are being seen at sites across the country.
Following some 20 years working in the building-services industry, Darren Warmington has set up a new recruitment company specialising in building-services vacancies. He has worked as a site-based engineer and designer in both consultancy and contracting and has a number of years’ recruitment experience in design consultancy and project management.
Design services for the £38 million Macclesfield Learning Zone project are being provided by the Manchester office of White Young Green. This world-class educational campus will comprise a new college, new joint sixth-form college, new school for Henbury High School, new joint sports centre, the European Centre for Aerospace Training and the integration of Park Lane Special School.
Kingswell
Axair Climate has established a partnership with Fujitsu to launch a new range of split air conditioners in the UK. The move further strengthens the packaged side of the business of Axair Climate. The company’s product portfolio includes Condair, Defensor, Hitachi and Blue Box, and it already has successful trading inks with Fujitsu elsewhere in Europe.
Yorkshire-based building-services group JH Shouksmith & Sons has win its largest-ever contract. Worth £3.6 million, it is for mechanical and electrical work for student accommodation in Leeds.
TT
Thermal Transfer has secured a £5.25 million contract for the design and build of a new sterilising suite for medical instrument and manufacturing facility for Vernon-Carus.
roles in hospital project



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