Trox UK has supplied and installed exposed multi service chilled beams (MSCB) in the refurbished offices of contractor M W Kellogg in Greenford, Middlesex. The initial contract was for one floor with a potential rolling refurbishment programme covering four buildings and 30 storeys.
The MSCB provided both cooling and heating and replaced an old cill mounted fan coil system. Because of the high level discharge of conditioned air, particularly heating, the space gained around the perimeter of the building was significant and could accommodate an extra 12 – 15 work stations per floor depending on floor size and layout.
David Sheen, Project Director for Constructive Interiors, said: “Before we selected a manufacturer we went and viewed installations that had recently been completed. At Empress State Building in Earls Court, London, we were impressed by the appearance and installation of the Trox extruded aluminium MSCB and selected them for our project in Greenford. When you view the Kellogg building from the outside little appears to have changed, but when you go inside to the office area there is a complete transformation. Gone are the rather antiquated false cills which housed the fan coils and in their place suspended from the soffit are these modern ‘wing like’ air conditioning units in the form of the MSCB. The client is delighted and everyone is happy with the end result – I see many more projects going down the MSCB route”.
As with most MSCB contracts Trox built various samples, some of which were installed into a test cell at their main laboratories. Vigorous testing on aerodynamics
and acoustics was carried out and witnessed by the design team.
One interesting feature was the control and commissioning valves. Keith Jeffreys, Trox UK Project Manager said: “The whole assembly was integrated into the beam as opposed to mounting in the bulkhead. This meant they could be easily accessed from the floor. Commissioning was therefore made easy; as was the individual control of each beam and to achieve similar benefits with the lighting each beam section housed all of the lighting control modules”.
