One of the major players in off-site construction in the building-services industry is NG Bailey — and the opening of a new factory significantly boosts its capabilities.

ANDREW EASTWELL firmly believes that applying new technologies to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings needs the support of research to eliminate associated risks early on.

DAVID LEATHERBARROW believes that true innovation is not something that can be cultivated but needs freedom to grow.

JAMES McHALE is concerned that the proven benefits of IT convergence in buildings are so little exploited.

As part of a major upgrade to the headquarters of Philips Lighting in Holland, Tridium worked with its system integrator Celsius Benelux to integrate the control of a complex range of services into one interoperable web-based environment.

It is an oft-repeated accusation that building management systems are generally over-specified and unnecessarily complex. In reality, the opposite tends to be the case. In an effort to make cost savings, system specifications are all too frequently pared down and important functionality lost. But as ANDY THORN explains, installation costs can be cut without cutting corners.

The BACnet communications protocol is at the heart of the building-management system for the new hospital in Blackburn. It is used in the TAC Satchwell building-management system and links 33 air-handling and cooling systems serving 11 operating theatres, a new X-ray department with an MRI scanner, a new pathology department and mortuary using distributed power, control and over a hundred inverter drives with native BACnet capability.

FRASER HYMAS discusses the importance of electronic controls to enable air-conditioning to perform to its best potential — and even generate invoices for air-conditioning services.

Trials of Airbloc air curtains with a new control panel have shown average energy savings of 40%. These tests in high-street stores were on an exposed site in the winter, and it is believed that greater savings could be achieved on less-exposed sites, during warmer months and with reduce air outlet temperatures.

JOHN MARROW discusses the steady progress that is being made towards a nationally recognised qualification for controls engineers.

CentraLine is simplifying energy-efficient networked automation of HVAC systems by bundling all its application knowledge into Coach. This software is described as easy to use and to deliver error-free configuration.

JOHN FALLON explains why the future for building management systems is wireless — and looks at the potential of Zigbee.

As part of the £35 million refurbishment of Wembley Arena, Integrated Control Systems has completed a £190 000 controls contract. ICS designed and installed a building-management system to control the vast auditorium, hospitality areas, dressing rooms, promoter’s offices, entrance foyer, bars, restaurants and food outlets.

As part of the extensive refurbishment of a Dutch government building, Priva Building Intelligence is providing an integrated solution for the control of HVAC services, lighting and sun blinds. The refurbishment of this 1984 building includes the installation of an Ethernet network, which will enable the building-management system to take full advantage of system integration.

An estimated £56 000 has been cut off the energy bill of Glasgow Science Centre following a review of the operational profile and reprogramming the Honeywell building-management system to take account of the changes.

Ex-Or has won a contract to supply lighting controls throughout the University of Manchester for the next three years. The award follows the installation of Ex-Or’s lighting-management systems and controls in new buildings and refurbishment projects over the past two years.

Just about everywhere you go in the building-services industry these days, there is much talk about improving the energy efficiency of buildings — and, by implication, carbon emissions. Until fairly recently, the interest was directed at new buildings — prompted by the long-awaited new Building Regulations based on designing buildings to achieve a certain level of carbon emissions.

Orders for private-commercial and private-industrial projects both showed a sharp decline in the three months to April 2006 compared with the previous quarter, according to figures from the Department of Trade & Industry.

25 000 fans with electronically commutated motors have been sold in the UK by Ebm-papst since their launch in September 2003.

Ductwork specialist CCL Veloduct is responding to booming demand in the East Midlands and the north by trebling the size of its Nottingham branch. New premises have been found on the Queen’s Drive Industrial Estate. The 1100 m2 premises will hold greater stocks of air-movement and ventilation products and also house a production line for spiral ductwork — the first in the area.

Vodafone UK has awarded a 5-year multi-million contract to Dalkia, a specialist provide of technical facilities services and energy management.

Watts Industries has moved into renewable energy with the acquisition of Swedish manufacturer Kin Olofsson Safe Corporation (Kinsafe).

Uwe Schlenker of Honeywell Building Controls EMEA (centre) has won a major industry marketing award for launching and developing CentraLine, a Europe-wide brand for energy-efficient networked HVAC system automation in small and medium-sized buildings. The Frank Dennis, OBE, marketing award is sponsored by the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations. It was presented by FETA director Cedric Sloan (left) and Doug Robins, president of FETA member group Building Controls Industry Association.

The lifetime costs of electric heating for homes can be 46% less than gas, according to a study comparing a typical installation of six electric or wet radiators with their lifetime expectations. It used information from the National Landlords Association and British Gas Servicing to understand true costs. Fuel costs were based on BRE GPG345 and updated with the latest and least-expensive online prices for gas and electricity on 20 March 2006.

Building services was represented at this year’s Isle of Mann TT races by Uniflair as a sponsor of the Tom Hanks sidecar team. This was Uniflair’s debut at this event. He was overall winner in 1997 and has competed for a number of years as a passenger, but switched to driver and had immediate success.

EPS Page has secured a third consecutive phase of a contract for the mechanical fit-out of new premises for Morgan Stanley at Canary Wharf. This latest contract brings to £2.4 million the value of work in the 13-storey HQ1 at 20 Bank Street in Canary Wharf.

New guidance on the total environmental warming impact (TEWI) refrigeration and air-conditioning systems has been published by the British Refrigeration Association. TEWI is a measure of the global-warming impact of equipment based on the total related emissions of greenhouses during equipment operation and disposal of operating liquids at the end of its life. It is measured in mass of carbon-dioxide equivalent.

Briggs & Forrester has been awarded a £6 million contract for installing M&E services in a new office block at 40 Holborn Viaduct in London on a site that was originally constructed in the 19th century.

Air-conditioning distributor Oceanair has joined the LG distributor network. The company has branches in Nottingham and West Sussex and offers the full range of LG air-conditioning products — including Art Cool, the Multi V range and all other multi-split products.

Building-services contractor SES has completed the £6.5 million M&E contract at the new PFI Education Village in Darlington. This £37.3 million project has been hailed as the ‘natural exemplar’ for education in the country and brings three local schools together to create one learning campus. The site will accommodate 1400 pupils aged three to 19.

Work-related accidents in the construction-products industry fell by nearly 20% in the year 2005/06, according to the latest Key Performance Indicators. This fall follows a reduction of nearly 30% the previous year, representing a 42% improvement in two years.

Water-supply issues are addressed in the design of a new building at Merton College by collecting rainwater for sanitation and water plants. Formerly opened by Bill Rammell, MP, the minister whose responsibilities include further education and lifelong learning, the building provides students with a library and learning centre with over a hundred computers and 20 000 books and journals, flexible IT-networked teaching spaces, sixth-form centre, IT café and bookshop, science laboratories and special areas for the visual and performing arts. It provides 6000 m2 of floor space.

Diffusion, a UK manufacturer of commercial heating and cooling products, has announced a 38% increase in sales this year compared with the same period last year.

CIBSE, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, has called on the Government to introduce operational ratings for buildings more widely. The institution has declared its support for the Government’s intention to introduce limited use of operational ratings as part of the implementation of the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive.

Bookings can now be made for Mitsubishi Electric’s seminar tour next year. Ian Parry, business-development manager of this air-conditioning company, says, ‘As these courses are CPD [continuing professional development] verified, they offer the industry an independent view of some of the major issues affecting us all today.’

Ambi-Rad has expanded its capabilities in radiant heating with the acquisition of Sonning Heating for an undisclosed sum. Sonning radiant heaters use hot air to deliver highly effective heat in large-space buildings. Ambi-Rad’s expertise is direct combustion.

The Energy 2006 exhibition has had to change its opening dates. The new dates are 7 and 8 September, replacing 6 and 7 September. The venue remains the same, the National Motorcycle Museum.

Women MPs tap into manual skills

The refurbishment and remodelling of the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia makes extensive use of equipment from Carrier. Six chillers ranging in size from 33 kW Aquasnaps to 250 kW units are coupled with 45 modular air-handling units.

Reznor delivers comfort for antique dealers and pigs

Pumps with extremely low maintenance requirements will bring valuable benefits for the new heart-and-lung unit at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. The 4300 Series in-line pumps from Armstrong Holden Brooke Pullen make it possible for routine maintenance on critical HVAC systems to be carried out in minutes instead of hours.

George Wimpey has become the first national house builder to offer complete RCD protection for all electrical circuits in its houses — substantially reducing the likelihood of electric shocks.

To help provide the best working environment for its staff, building-services-engineering consultant Desco has installed Mitsubishi heat-recovery air conditioning in its new premises in Sunderland. The 700 m2 2-storey building accommodates 40 staff.

Frost protection for a 10 200 m2 distribution centre in Leeds is provided by an air-rotation system designed by Nordair-Niche.

To increase heating efficiency and deliver improved tenant services in the Three Rivers District Council area in Hertfordshire, the council and boiler manufacturer Glow-worm have entered into a partnering agreement.

As part of a programme of refitting its car showrooms, Toyota has installed underfloor heating in its showroom at St Leonards. It is believed to be the fist showroom in this programme to have underfloor heating.

The installation and commissioning of air-conditioning using fan-coil units in a luxurious residential development in London was considerably simplified using SAV commissioning modules.

High-performance fan-coil units and air curtains have been supplied by Biddle Air Systems for the new Institute of Molecular Medicine, Epidemiology & Cancer Research at St James’ Hospital in Leeds.

McQuay UK has drastically reduced on-site labour costs for a huge air-handling unit for a fast-track contract in Scotland by the off-site packaging of electrics, control panels and pipework.

hree oil-fired Ferroli cast-iron boilers have been installed as part of a £5 million refurbishment at an historic manor house in Brighton. Once complete, the renovation of the eighteenth-century Stanmer House will provide a venue for weddings, conferences and corporate events.

Energy-efficient air conditioning for the new Blue Cross animal hospital in Grimsby is provided by a Daikin VRVII R410A heat recovery air-conditioning system providing up to 44.5 kW of cooling and 50 kW of heating.

Simmtronic SPECS3 controls were chosen for the award-winning lighting scheme at BP's new financial operations centre at Canary Wharf in London. For the Cat B fit-out of this 22 000 m2 office at Canada Square, Simmtronic supplied electrical contractor T. Clarke Plc with a fully addressable lighting-control system with automatic light-level compensation and DALI control gear for the special 5-lamp fittings.

Underfloor heating has proved to be the ideal solution for the new Brunswick Beech Care centre on the outskirts of Newcastle.

Quiet air conditioning that is simple to control is provided for a residential village in Buckinghamshire for people over 55 using equipment for Toshiba and Carrier.

The latest catalogue of publications from the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association features many new printed and software publications, complementing those that have become industry standards.

Guidance on air-to-air heat-recovery units that can provide an average of 33% free cooling per year when used with air-conditioning systems is provided on a CD and quick-reference guide from Mitsubishi Electric.

Luxo’s brochure on lighting for education contains essential information for anyone involved in the specification of lighting for schools, colleges and universities. It offers solutions for illumination in key areas of education-building design.

Armstrong World Industries, which makes suspended-ceiling systems, has redesigned its web site to offer enhanced navigation and new content and services.

Vent-Axia’s Essentials range of products for ventilation and heating are the subject of a new catalogue. It addresses the need of distributors to stock the right product and of contractors to obtain the right product at the right price.

Pump manufacturer KSB has published its 2006 standard-products catalogue for the building-services sector. It is described as containing details of all pumps required by specifiers of pumps and boosting equipment for building-services applications.

Aggreko, which specialises in the rental of equipment for providing power and temperature control, has published a new manual on equipment for temperature control. The manual is designed to enable the reader to fully understand the product range and services that can be provided by Aggreko’s temperature-control fleet.

Andrews Water Heaters now offers all its product information electronically, either for downloading from its web site or on disk from the company.

The Chartered Institute of Building has launched a new code of practice for partnering in the construction industry. Partnering is seen as the most effective way of tackling construction projects, and this guide explains how clients and construction firms using partnering can achieve higher levels of efficiency and certainty to provide world-class buildings.

Trox is offering data centres the opportunity to ‘test drive’ its carbon-dioxide-based cooling technology within existing chilled-water systems.

The Grundfos Hydro Multi E family of packaged booster sets are fitted with two, three or four pumps as standard. Continuous adjustment of the pump speed maintains a constant pressure. These sets use pumps from the CRIE range with frequency-controlled single- or 3-phase MGE ultra-efficient motors.

Daikin Europe now offers inverter-driven Sky Air R410A condensing units with a communication box and expansion-valve kit for connecting directly to the cooling coils of air-handling units made by other companies.

Hamworthy Heating has introduced four high-efficiency non-condensing boilers to complement its Purewell VariHeat condensing range. They provide solutions for replacing boilers in constant-temperature circuits operating at 82/71°C and have outputs of 65, 85, 105 and 125 kW.

A low-profile 12 V relay base for Apollo’s Series 65 conventional smoke and heat detectors can be used in both fire and security systems, depending on whether latching or non-latching mode is selected.

To help air-conditioning and refrigeration engineers wanting to move over to fluorescent leak detection, Spectroline offers two all-in-one starter kits.

The Nexus module from MHS Boilers uses hot water from central plant to deliver independent heating and hot-water services to apartments without the need for individual boiler plant.

Mitsubishi Electric has announced major improvements to its Mr Slim range of air-conditioning units.

To help air-conditioning contractors diagnose problems with inverter-controlled air conditioners, EDC International offers an instrument that can identify whether the compressor or inverter is faulty. To use the Inverter Phase Check, the supply is disconnected from the compressor and connected to the module. When the inverter is switched on, the six lights should light up — red, yellow and blue. If the inverter is faulty, at least one of these lights will not illuminate, indicating the position of the fault.

The SCx range of unvented water cylinders from Dimplex includes direct and indirect models from 80 to 305 litres. They draw water directly from the mains, so there is no need for a cold-water tank.

LG has widened its range of wall-mounted indoor units to include inverter, non-inverter and cooling-only models in an aesthetically designed case. They are said to be among the most compact in size and shape on the UK market.

The Domocal range of thermal units from Watts Industries can connect flats and apartments to district-heating systems or a central boiler room to provide individual control.

The Sentinel ventilation system from Vent-Axia is designed to provide appropriate ventilation for rooms used by varying numbers of people during the day.

Free software to calculate how much money could be saved using variable-speed drives with fans and pumps is offered by Siemens Building Services Technologies. The software analyses the return on investment and payback period.

The ACS150 range of dives for HVAC components from ABB is said to be one of the easiest to install. These small, simple and low-cost drives can be used to control pumps and fans and to replace contactors and soft starters. These drives have ratings from 370 W to 4 kW, and all have the same height and depth. Only the width varies, so fixing holes are all on the same level and cable tunnels can be mounted horizontally. The drives can also be mounted side by side on DIN rails or with one side to the back of the cabinet.

Mitsubishi Electric has upgraded its PFD close-control air-conditioning system with the launch of R410A versions with a 20%-plus increase in COP.

Several boilers from the Streamline range of MHS Boilers can be linked to provide up to 900 kW of highly controllable output. There are two models, the FS 150 and 225.

Speed-control modules for ebm-papst’s range of electronically commutated (EC) fans provide significant energy savings, less noise and improved performance.

The Met Mann range of evaporative coolers for areas from 340 to 625 m2 is available from JS Air Conditioners. Evaporative cooling is ideal for areas that can be well ventilated, are not sensitive to noise and require up to 13 K of cooling.

Energy metering in line with the latest Part L2 requirements of the Building Regulations is provided by a new family of meter packs from Eaton Electric. They are part of the Memshield 2 low-voltage distribution range.

The Colt Shaft active-fan smoke-extraction system for residential buildings, hospitals, schools, colleges, offices and hotels frees building designers from the constraints imposed by the need for fire-fighting cores in these types of building. It also extracts smoke more quickly than passive natural-ventilation systems.

Coolmation now offers the Rhoss Z Power range of air-cooled chillers. They have cooling capacities from 750 to 1285 kW.

The UniChiller from Unico Systems is a reverse-cycle heating and cooling unit providing hot and cold water for indoor comfort systems. A COP of at least three is said to be achieved under normal operating conditions.

Lindab’s Tri-safe 3-IN-1 damper can prevent the spread of fire and smoke through ventilation ductwork and also control airflow volume.

Thermoscreens has introduced a range of Designer air curtains made of bright stainless steel and oval in shape for a streamlined, soft look.

A system for installing wet underfloor heating that enables systems to be fitted into a depth of 25 mm has been developed by Continental Underfloor Heating. Slimfix also halves installation time.

JOHN FIELD explains why operational ratings are so important in revealing the true carbon performance of buildings and improvements.

DAVE HAMPTON argues that the UK needs to be very much more positive in its attitude to reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from buildings.

The UK Government’s intention to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2060 is helping everyone agree that energy must be used more efficiently. MIKE LAWRENCE examines ways of delivering

Most companies and individuals are finally ready to tackle their carbon emissions, but few actually know what to do, says DAVID FRISE.

In among the bags of cement, scaffolding and bricks at this year’s Interbuild was a clutch of entries for the show’s awards — providing practical ways of reducing carbon emissions from buildings. They include a range of renewable-energy technologies and a product to achieve the thermal inertia of 10 cm of concrete in just 5 mm.

To minimise the use of mechanical cooling for a new IP-based telephone exchange in Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands, Airedale has supplied two Ecotel indoor downflow units rated at 17 kW each.

Littlewoods Shop Direct Group is making use of a low-energy method of cooling its new headquarters in Liverpool using an innovative system developed by SE Controls.

Three wind turbines 9 m in diameter will be incorporated into a residential tower being built as part of the transformation of the Elephant & Castle in London. They will be integrated into the top of the structure of the 43-storey Castle House and contribute to energy costs for the 399 apartments being up to 40% below the UK housing average.

Training programmes for installers of Roth solar thermal solutions are available via Climate Pipework Systems, the UK distributor.

The Stiebel Eltron range of heat pumps comprises three types; air to water; brine to water; and water to water. They are claimed to achieve a COP of up to five.

A low-energy approach to reducing high summer temperatures in the factory of HPC Engineering is reducing peak temperatures of 30 to 35°C by 8 to 10 K. This has been achieved by installing 17 Breezair evaporative coolers to cool two spaces of 3250 m2 and 2320 m2.

Vital information for monitoring and targeting the energy consumption of building-services plant is gathered by the t-mac system. Information can be made available via any Internet-enabled PC.

Version 22 of Hevacomp’s M&E design software has passed the DCLG accreditation procedure for use with Part of the Building Regulations (2006). This software can thus be used to interface with the Simplified Building Energy Model (SBEM) to check compliance with Part L.

Keston Boilers has developed a package for space heating and domestic hot water incorporating a Spa Twin double-coil tank, virtually any model of Keston boiler and a solar panel with an absorption level of 95% and temperature capability of 232°C.

Blackpool’s Solarium has been restored in keeping with its original use as a sun room to become a low-energy building incorporating renewable-energy systems. The new Solaris centre includes a photo-voltaic roof and wind turbines.

A power station burning waste is to be built in south-east London. It will have a capacity of 72 MW and will be fuelled by waste that would otherwise go to landfill.

The use of wood-based fuel to heat community housing in Barnsley has won the top award of the Ashden Awards for sustainable energy.