Siemens powers up centre for the future

Published: February 2012

Designed in an L shape to fit into the space available in the Siemens Crystal building is this Sivacon S4 distribution board as an integral part of the energy-efficiency strategy.

Integral to the operation of the Crystal sustainable-cities initiative by Siemens in London’s Green Enterprise District is a bespoke power distribution board, the Sivacon S4. It has been designed in conjunction with Siemens solution partner ICWPower to suit the specific applications and requirements of the building. To help achieve high levels of energy efficiency for this building, the distribution board includes integral power-factor-correction equipment.

The aim of the building is to enable visitors to learn about urban challenges such as climate change and sustainability and how a city can evolve to meet them. Over 100 000 visitors a year are expected — including city planners and officials, schoolchildren, graduates and members of the local community.

The Crystal will house over a hundred Siemens employees and showcase innovative energy-efficient technologies and demonstrate excellence in sustainable construction through the intelligent introduction of building structure, fabric and services.

The building aims to set a benchmark for sustainable construction through the intelligent integration of building structure, fabric and services as a series of co-ordinated active systems working together. This amalgamation of functions includes the distribution board, which is fully intelligent, allowing communication-enabled monitoring and interaction with the BEMS.

Other features of the building include solar PV, ground-source heat pumps and thermal wheels in air-handling systems.

For more information on this story, click here: Feb 2012, 129