Tour & Andersson has provided a full range of its hydronic balancing valves for the waterborne heating and cooling system of the new Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía opera house in Valencia, Spain. Installed to help maintain a comfortable indoor temperature with optimum energy efficiency, the valves will ensure that the interior climate is unaffected by seasonal fluctuations.

The opera house, designed by Santiago Calatrava, spans an area of more than 40,000 square metres, standing at a height of 75 metres, making it one of the largest buildings of its kind in Europe. As such, the building required a HVAC system that could cope with the grand scale of the site.

To help improve the system’s energy efficiency, Tour & Andersson installed four heat pumps designed to use sea water for heating and cooling rather than water piped in from the mains supply. In addition, a heat recovery unit powered by the system’s redundant heat was installed to heat sanitary water for the entire building.

With help from engineers at Tour & Andersson’s dedicated Hydronic College, Tour & Andersson created a diverse system that would help meet the complex needs of the building. The implemented solution required more than 500 manual balancing valves specifically chosen to heat and cool the vast space as required.