When the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) refurbished its London Mayfair branch, the new air conditioning system had to take into account planning regulations which meant that Air Movement Design of Caterham, who were responsible for the design and build of the mechanical services, had to cope with restrictions on the type of condensers that could be used.
“The main constraint from a design point of view was that no condensers were allowed on the outside of the building due to both visual and noise restrictions,” explained Rob Lowe,the Design Manager for Air Movement Design, who coordinated the design of the project.
The building’s existing comfort cooling was provided via a wet system using the Landlord’s condenser water and packaged fan coil units. Air Movement Design selected Mitsubishi Electric’s unique WR2 heat recovery condensers, which they connected via a heat exchanger to the Landlord’s condenser water circuit. “This enabled us to provide simultaneous heating and cooling throughout the branch without the need for any external plant,” added Rob Lowe.
The two WR2 systems, which were provided by PACAIR of Hemel Hempstead, are sited in the basement plant room and connect to 15 indoor cassettes and wall-mounted units to provide simultaneous cooling and heating for the building.
Air Movement Design is a full M&E Contractor installing and maintaining anything from air conditioning to sprinklers,hot and cold water services and fresh air systems throughout the UK.On this project they were able to provide full calculations for each area to decide the exact cooling and heating requirements.
The bank had to stay open throughout the refurbishment,which meant that all work had to be carried out in the evenings and at weekends. This brought its own problems as any noise had to be kept to a minimum.
The air conditioning installers from Air Movement Design had to work around the builders and decorators who also had their own deadlines to meet.
“The biggest challenge was designing the system for a building that was being refurbished as we went along and it’s a credit to everyone involved that HBOS now have a fully operational upgraded branch completed in the agreed timescale,” added Peter Callow,Project Engineer who coordinated the project for Air Movement Design.
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