The air conditioning was specified by Hoare Lea’s Birmingham office and designed with Direct Cooling Systems, which installed the equipment.
Five VRV systems are linked to 99 concealed ceiling-ducted fan-coil units with cooling capacities from 2.2 to 7.1 kW and heating from 2.5 to 8.0 kW. Indoor temperatures are maintained at 22°C ±2 K throughout the year.
The energy-reclaim ventilation units each deliver 5.9 to 25 m3/min of tempered fresh air and modulate the temperature and humidity of incoming fresh air to match indoor conditions. Each VRV system is controlled by a Daikin intelligent controller in the maintenance staff areas and linked to remote room-temperature controllers in the office areas.
Commenting on the project, a Hoare Lea spokesman said, ‘Daikin VRV equipment was selected because it offers considerable energy efficiency and ease of installation, combined with a huge product range and control options — plus cost competitiveness.
‘REYQ heat-recovery systems were chosen to ensure maximum energy efficiency and customer-support levels, and their high static-pressure availability allowed them to be sited in purpose-designed compounds to reduce plant visibility. Similarly, FXSQ concealed ceiling indoor units were ideally suited to this type of project because of their compactness, low operating noise and excellent static-pressure characteristics.’
