HVCA, the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association, is adopting a new name at the beginning of March. Its membership has voted overwhelmingly to change the name to the Building & Engineering Services Association. The decision was reached at a special general meeting following a major consultation across the membership and achieved over 90% support.

Changes to the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) aren’t necessarily as negative for biomass heating as many people think and could even broaden its benefits — as Adrian Walker explains.

Ant Wilson has been named to AECOM’s fellowship programme, which celebrates the company’s most senior thought leaders who have demonstrated a lifetime of industry advancement and technical success with the company. He is director for building engineering in Europe and has over 35 years’ experience in the industry and has dedicated his career to sustainable design.

As expected, the Renewable Heat Incentive for large biomass installations was sharply reduced when the scheme opened to applicants after a delay to resolve its compatibility with EU state-aid rules. The new rate for large biomass of 1 MWh and above is 1 p/kWh, compared with 2.6 p/kWh previously. There was an increase in the rate for smaller commercial biomass of less than 1 MW and also for small and large ground-source commercial heat pumps.

Having successfully exploited off-site manufacture for a major hospital project, Hulley & Kirkwood and Balfour Beatty were well place to use it again for another hospital — which is also designed for low carbon emissions.

A combined smoke and natural-ventilation system from SE Controls is helping to create a comfortable and safe environment for patients, visitors and staff at Salford Royal Hospital’s new £90 million Hope Building. The 5-storey building houses a new A&E department, as well as providing 242 beds, emergency assessment unit and critical care facilities.

Having addressed the issue of ozone depletion in the atmosphere, the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry then found itself faced with the global-warming potential of refrigerants. Step forward Klima-Therm with a very low GWP refrigerant that has been trialled by Waitrose.

Existing R22 refrigeration plant in a UK data centre has been replaced with a bespoke cooling system installed by Star Refrigeration using chillers with Turbocor compressors and R134a refrigerant. There are four new chillers, each with a cooling capacity of 1100 kW with variable-speed drives and an air-cooled refrigerant circuit configured for thermosyphon operation to provide free cooling when possible. The previous plant had a cooling capacity of 2700 kW.

Waterwise Technology is to supply all the water-treatment for the new BAA Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport. When completed, the new building will be larger than Terminal 5 and is designed to produce 40% less carbon than the existing Terminal 2. Water-treatment systems selected for the project will significantly contribute to those energy savings.

Natural ventilation and lighting is provided by Monodraught systems for the new school on St Mary’s island for the Isles of Scilly’s 280 pupils aged from three to 16 years. The building is mainly single storey and has large areas of glazing. A focus for the design of the school was keeping things simple to that maintenance of services such as ventilation and lighting could be managed locally by islanders. With this in mind, design-and build contractor Kier, Grainge Architects and building-services designer Hulley & Kirkwood selected Monodraught to provide a strategy for natural ventilation and daylighting.

Energy savings of over £26 000 a year are expected at hospital sites in Bradford following the installation of ABB standard drives for HVAC to 28 air-handling units at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital. The drives are installed in critical areas such as theatres and infection-controlled zones where airflow is controlled to promote safety and comfort. The load on the AHUs varies with outside temperature, but the biggest difference is between day and night, with fans typically running at half speed at night.

St George’s Hospital in Tooting is saving £45 000 a year by upgrading its heating and hot-water systems from calorifiers to plate heat exchangers. Five EasiHeat systems from Spirax now serve the Lanesborough wing of this 1000-bed hospital. Three provide heating and two deliver domestic hot water in a duty/standby arrangement. Heating was previously provided by three shell-and-tube calorifiers and hot water by four more calorifiers. The £45 000 savings are a combination of improved energy efficiency and reduced maintenance.

Based on his long experience, Ian Hollingsworth is certain that the key to the successful outcome of building projects is detailed attention to commissioning from design to completion.

Balfour Beatty Engineering Services has secured a contract to create a sustainable new landmark building at the University of Nottingham. The 2500 m2 Energy Technologies Building is designed for continuing and developing the university’s world-leading energy research. The £6.4 million facility designed by architects Maber will be an exemplar of low-carbon technology by minimising its demands for heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation from non-sustainable sources.

Despite concerns about the high global-warming potential of HFCs, a report by the United Nations Environment Programme has warned that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ refrigerant solution. The report expresses concern that the high GWP of HFCs that have been the replacement of choice for ozone-depleting substances may offset the significant benefits achieved by the Montreal Protocol.

Flakt Woods has supplied whole-house heat-recovery units as part of an overall ventilation solution for upgrading student accommodation at Exeter University. The development on the university’s Streatham Campus involved new-build and complete fit-out studio accommodation, en-suite bedrooms and kitchens.