Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery for the refurbishment of heritage property overlooking London’s Hyde Park into prime residential accommodation is provided by Xcell 400 units from Xpelair Ventilation Solutions. The systems for The Lancasters Grade 2 listed building in French Renaissance style were specified by Mecserve Consulting Engineers. The project involved converting the building into 77 grand apartments.

Passivent natural-ventilation systems have been incorporated into a showcase project to demonstrate the practicality of developing low-energy commercial and office buildings. The Greenpower Centre is the new headquarters for Greenpower Education Trust. It has been developed by a partnership comprising architect Emission Zero, Fordingbridge and Passivent to provide a learning environment and testbed for low-emission technologies. The building has achieve a A-rated Energy Performance Certificate.

What are you up against when faced with providing good indoor air quality? Alan Macklin reviews the challenges.

Lots of fresh air to make for a healthy building doesn’t have to be matched with a high energy bill — if heat in exhaust air can be recovered. John Kelly looks at the issues.

Basing ventilation rates on relative humidity is an effective way of achieving good ventilation that is energy efficient and with low maintenance requirements — explains Colin Hone.

The new kitchen ventilation system for The Stag Inn at Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, a popular and well regarded pub and restaurant, is based on a fan from Elta’s PowerPlus DCV range with a pre-programmed Eltadrive frequency inverter converting single phase to 3 phase. The installation work, including canopy and ductwork, was carried out by Systemair Fans & Spares of Nottingham.

Xpelair’s mixed-mode system for natural and low-energy ventilation and heating has been specified and installed at a new school in Wales. The £9.5 million Williamstown Primary School in Rhondda is aiming to secure an A-rating for environmental standards. There are 12 classrooms, unit for special educational needs, hall, community room, IT facilities, library, soft play area and an outdoor environmental studies area. There are also a football field, changing rooms and multi-use games area.

Condair Mk5 resistive steam humidifiers from JS Humidifiers offer close humidity control and maintenance costs that can be up to 65% less than other electrode-boiler humidifiers. These humidifiers manage scale so that it is easy to remove, thereby eliminating the need for expensive disposable boiling cylinders. Outputs range from 5 to 80 kg/h, with full modulation of the output.

Aereco’s BXC extract unit for mechanical extract ventilation is based on intelligent presence detection to provide ventilation as required. The Eyebooster module detects infra-red radiation through an angle of 100° through a Fresnel lens. When a variation in infra-radiation is detected, the extract shutters are opened and ventilation provided.

With schools under Government pressure to reduce their carbon footprints, but not at the expense of good indoor air quality, Nygel Humphrey explains how on-demand ventilation, coupled with high efficiency, energy recovery, successfully manages air quality — as well as reducing carbon footprints and energy costs.

Xpelair’s Xcell 300 range of MVHR (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery) units comprises three models for houses with three to five bedrooms. Features include a counterflow cell with up to 92% efficiency and a specific fan power as low as 0.6 W/l/s, meeting EST best-practice compliance. An Xcell 300 unit is claimed to save up to 480 kg of carbon dioxide a year compared to a traditional heat-recovery system.

Above the suspended ceiling and inside the ductwork could lurk all manner of undesirables. It is a problem that concerns Ian Wall.

Energy-efficient ventilation for Fitness First at Baker Street in London is provided by heat-recovery units supplied by Fastlane Ventilation Equipment. The units enable heat from the shower areas to be recovered and used in other areas of the building. Fastlane worked with distributor Air Conditioning Suppliers and H&V contractor TBS to design a system specifically to meet the needs of the club, supplying eight bespoke units.

An unusual application for Crowcon’s CellarSafe detection and control system for oxygen and carbon dioxide is being used in artificial mountains — enclosed endurance training chambers that simulate oxygen at high levels. Generators filter oxygen molecules out of the air feeding the chambers to achieve concentrations of 14%, or even less. The effect is to simulate altitudes up to 6000 m. The chambers are made by Höhenbalance of Germany.

Wayne Aston expounds the benefits of natural ventilation for optimum indoor air quality.

Optimising indoor air quality requires attention to very detail, not just filtering out airborne particles. Dean Ward considers the role of humidification.