Microflex preinsulated pipework is available in the UK through Watts Industries. It is composed of thermal insulation around carrier pipe(s) and covered by a double-skinned closed chamber jacket. These pipes can be used for distributing water for heating, cooling and hot and cold water supply services.

The commissioning of piped services inevitably faces time and budget constraints. Peter Rees considers how these challenges can be addressed.

Peter Rose reminds us of the very real, but avoidable, risks posed by legionella bacteria.

The time taken to power flush central-heating systems can be halved using Adey’s VibraClean radiator agitator.

The ECOflo range of high-efficiency gas-fired condensing water heaters from Andrews comprises seven models with heat outputs from 35 to 79 kW and recovery rates of up to 1400 l/h through 50 K. They have storage capacities of 230 or 380 l.

Using Kingspan Tarec phenolic insulation on cold and chilled-water pipework in Coventry’s new University Hospital have solved the problem of space restrictions and helped the hospital meet stringent targets for carbon-dioxide emissions.

Keraflo’s KP float-valve kits can be used with large water-storage tanks served by pipes in five sizes from 50 to 200 mm in diameters to provide full flexibility in the level of stored water. This feature is said to be particularly important in buildings with seasonal occupancy — such as universities and colleges, football stadia etc.

AquaTech pressurisation units for heating and chilled-water systems provide back-pressure and back-siphonage protection to fluid category 5, as required by the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations of 1999.

As part of the refitting of the Millennium Dome into the O2 venue for music entertainment and sports, Grundfos worked with M E Engineers to develop pumping solutions that used 36 pumps to provide the full range of M&E services, nine pressurisation units and two booster sets.

BSS has added a new product to its range of BOSS White jointing compounds.

Nu-Heat has made it easier for installers to direct underfloor heating tube back to the main manifold with the introduction of a 25 mm polystyrene tray.

Said to offer major advantages over steel for supplying oil to heating appliances is the Universal Petro Pipe range of polyethylene pipes distributed in Britain by Hytek. This lightweight and flexible pipe comes with a 15 year manufacturer’s guarantee.

Grundfos now offers a UK-specific disc of its WinCAPS CD-based electronic product catalogue and selection tool. It allows the user to select from product catalogues, size the most suitable pumps, choose the best replacement for a Grundfos or non-Grundfos pump and choose accessories and/or spare parts.

Simple pumping less water round a heating system at times of reduced demand can save significant amounts of energy. Britta Frank explains how.

A potential saving in installation time of up to 67% is claimed using Tectite Sprint push-fit fittings in plumbing and heating systems by Pegler Yorkshire.

The key to maximising the benefits of prefabricated valve assemblies is to adopt a flexible approach with a high level of inherent configurability — according to Marflow Hydronics.

CIBSE president John Armstrong believes that the wealth of knowledge owned by facilities managers is vital to meeting Government targets to reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions.

To address the skills shortage that is posing a threat to the future of the facilities-management industry, GSH is stepping up its recruitment programme for apprentices. The company already employs 65 apprentices and is planning a substantial increase.

Two long-term contracts won by PME, the building-maintenance and facilities-services arm of Carillion are worth over £2.5 million.

The benefits of a partnership between facilities managers and building-services specialists has never been more valuable than it is today, says HVCA president Mike McCloskey.

Ian Fielder of the British Institute of Facilities Managers argues that the experience of facilities managers in operating buildings day by day has a key role to play in designing sustainability into new and refurbished buildings and delivering corporate social responsibility.

EWS is warning about the likelihood of air-conditioning systems failing during what is predicted to be a long, hot summer — unless companies take preventive action.

The major maintenance contract of Honeywell with the head office and operations centre of Wessex Water has been extended, and Wessex Water has also contracted with Honeywell to manage 12 other buildings.

Mitsubishi Electric’s LES division is moving on from debating climate change to identifying and promoting how to reduce carbon emissions with the launch of its ‘Green gateway initiative’.

Just as the industry might have believed that high-density computing equipment was moving out of the ability of chilled water to cool, Eaton-Williams has tackled the problem — and is already moving on to the next stage.

Nick Till explains why it is so important for the expertise of commissioning engineers to be brought in at the very start of a project.

Alan Beresford explores the energy-saving and environmental benefits of evaporative cooling for reducing temperatures in buildings.

When in the latter stages of last year, Sir Nicholas Stern in his review ‘The economics of climate change’ highlighted the impact on the world's GDP of climate change, there was considerable scepticism in some quarters. The spread of his predictions was very wide — ranging from unabated climate change costing the world at least 5% of GDP each year right up to over 20% if more dramatic predictions come to pass. At the very best, he believes that the impact of climate change on GDP can be limited to around 1%.

New construction orders for private commercial projects underpinned a 6% rise in the volume of new orders for the year to April 2007 compared with the previous 12 months, according to figures from the Department of Trade & Industry. All figures are seasonally adjusted and at 2000 prices.

Burner manufacturer Riello has called on the Government to produce statutory requirements for the use of biofuel in the heating industry by introducing a heating-fuels obligation. The company sees biofuels as a real chance to cut carbon emissions for heating — but is concerned about the amount of good-quality biofuel likely to be available for this purpose.

Building-services contractor Skerritt is to start work on a £3.5 million contract on the Jubilee Campus at the University of Nottingham in the Autumn. The company will be responsible for mechanical and electrical services on behalf of SOL Construction — including air-delivery systems, ventilation and heating systems.

Plans to improve payment practices throughout the construction industry have been announced by Margaret Hodge, Industry & Regions Minister. While the sector, which accounts for nearly 9% of the economy, has improved payment practices over the past decade, problems remain.

Stiebel Eltron has opened a new heat-pump factory in Germany that can make 70 different types of heat pump. They will be available in the UK through Applied Energy Products. The 6000 m2 factory represents an investment of nearly £7 million. Five production lines will make ground- and air-source heat pumps of every configuration.

Manrose Manufacturing, which makes domestic ventilation fans and equipment, has been acquired by Vent-Axia’s holding company Volution Holdings.

Honeywell, a global leader in energy services, joined former US president Bill Clinton and mayors of the world’s largest cities in New York recently to announce that the company has joined the Clinton Climate Initiative in a global effort to help cities around the world improve the energy efficiency of buildings and decrease greenhouse-gas emissions.

Hoare Lea Consulting Engineers has been appointed to provide M&E design services and specialist sustainability advice, including BREEAM assessment, for a new research complex at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory at Harwell. The appointment is by the Science & Technology Facilities Council.

Two major contracting associations have agreed to work together fully in the vital area of sustainability . The commitment signed by the Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association and the Electrical Contractors’ Association recognises the considerable benefits of a joint approach to sustainability in terms of industry representation and the provision of practical and expert advice to members and clients.

SummitSkills, the sector skills council for building-services engineering, has begun a major review of the sector’s National Occupations Standards qualifications and assessment principles at operative level. These standards describe the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to undertake particular jobs to a nationally recognised level of competence and form the basis of qualifications such as NVQs and SVQs.

Vent-Axia is once again sponsoring the Stobart Motorsport British Superbike Championship Team for 2007. The company is now the team’s official second sponsor, so the team will be renamed the Stobart Vent-Axia Superbike Team.

The lower limit for using air conditioning to cool buildings in China has been set as 26°C by the government as part of a plan to cut energy consumption by 20%.

The British Property Federation is producing a new solution for measuring, benchmarking and reducing the energy use of tenants in commercial buildings, with the support of a £140 000 award from the Carbon Trust.

Buderus has helped equip a purpose-designed training centre at Lincoln College to provide high-quality facilities for installers and service engineers in the east of England.

Continuing advances in health and safety have led to SES receiving the International Safety Award by the British Safety Council for the 11th year running. This provider of building services also had to demonstrate a consistently high quality of safety policies and plans.

Amtech, which specialises in software for electrical design and test and inspection, has acquired Estimation, one of the market leaders in software for building-services estimating, accounting and contract management.

Sharp Corporation is planning to double production capacity for solar photo-voltaic modules at its factory in Wales, taking its potential output up to 220 MW. The investment is worth nearly £9 million and is due for completion by February 2007.

Inviron and ISS Coflex have been awarded a 5-year facilities-management contract with Anglian Water. Inviron is a leading building-services and facilities-management provider, and ISS Coflex is one of the world’s largest facility service groups.

Following the success of last year’s 100 days of carbon clean up campaign, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers is launching a new carbon-reduction project for 2007. This initiative is designed to help participants realise the carbon-saving potential of their workplaces.

Building-services contractor Briggs & Forrester has completed the first phase of the £6 million Wavendon Towers Project in Milton Keynes and is now completing the separate fit-out works to the buildings, which are due for completion in April 2008.

Kimpton Building Services has completed a new installation to provide comfort cooling and ventilation at the Merseyside site of News International, designing and installing a new air-conditioning system as part of a new production office suite.

White Young Green has been appointed one of only two framework partners providing M&E engineering design services for KPMG LLP. This agreement covers KPMG’s property portfolio throughout the UK and is initially for three years, with the possibility of a 2-year extensions.

The questions of people at board level responsible for controlling energy costs as part of their wider job role will be addressed at a conference at The Energy Event 20077 on 12 and 13 September at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham.

Subject to completion of a legal agreement, the London Borough of Hillingdon and the Mayor of London have agreed to grant planning permission for the Heathrow East terminal.

Daikin’s ‘Pocket guide to air conditioning’ is a reference tool to help installers and specifiers promote the benefits of air conditioning and heat pumps to customers. Whether an end user is considering upgrading an existing system or installing a new energy-efficient system, the guide gives an overview of air conditioning, the solutions available and key considerations prior to installing a system.

The latest edition of Cooper Lighting & Security’s A5 buyers’ guide includes essential details of the company’s most popular product lines. Its 116 pages cover Crompton Lighting’s range of mains luminaires and the Menvier and JSB ranges of emergency-lighting and fire-detection systems.

CIBSE has published its much anticipated ‘Sustainability toolkit’, complete with a searchable online database of good-practice guidance.

The Heating & Ventilating Contractors’ Association has launched a new-look commerce site and a new-look catalogue showcasing all its publications. These publications are widely respected in the HVACR industry as definitive guides to legislation, regulations and best practice. Many contain advice designed to help the profitability of a business.

Legrand has published a catalogue containing its entire range of BTicino door-entry systems and technologies, include Axolute and Pivot.

Among the dozens of products featured for the first time in the S-elect catalogue from Schneider Electric are the Delta all-in-one residential networking systems, Thorsman tools and fixings, GET air conditioning and a new range of CCTV cameras.

lex Connectors has improved its web site to provide a much wider range of information on its innovative range of lighting connection and control products.

Flex Connectors has improved its web site to provide a much wider range of information on its innovative range of lighting connection and control products.

BSRIA’s popular directory of building-services legislation has been updated and made available on CD-ROM.

BSRIA’s popular directory of building-services legislation has been updated and made available on CD-ROM.

Viessmann’s largest solar thermal installation in the UK delivers nearly 56 MWh of energy a year at the site of Petans near Norwich to help heat a large indoor survival training pool and provide hot water for 26 showers. The total installation comprises 86 m2 of solar tubes and by reducing the consumption of LPG will save over 13 t of carbon-dioxide emissions a year, with a payback on embodied carbon dioxide of one to two years. Petans specialises in safety training for the offshore and other industries. One of its facilities is a 495 m3 pool where trainees are taught to escape from a simulated helicopter ditching. Instructors and their trainees spend several hours a day in the water, so it is heated to around 30°C.

Compliance with the requirements of CIBSE Lighting Guide LG7 and the ability to dim luminaires were among the capabilities of Luxo’s wide range of products that led to them being specified for the offices of Real Time Worlds in Dundee, which develops software for multi-player on-line gaming.

The long life of Chalmor’s Endurance luminaires is being put to good effect in the engineering laboratories of City University London, where gaining access to luminaires for re-lamping is difficult.

Faced with designing a heating and hot-water system for a new 5-bedroom detached house with three en-suite bathrooms in Poole, Bournemouth installer Tony Comaskey contacted Glow-worm’s design service. Dedicated staff work from plans to prepare a set of CAD drawings, a schedule of works and materials to complete an installation. The project certainly required more than a combi boiler.

To help the Market Quarter residential development in Chippenham achieve the highest rating in the BREEAM-recognised EcoHomes scheme, EcoTherm rigid polyurethane insulation boards have been used for both conventional pitched roofs and an innovative ‘green’ living roof.

To provide background heating for the Easistore self-storage centre in Crawley, a Reznor V3 gas-fired warm-air heater is installed on each of the four floors to maintain a temperature of 14 to 17°C with excellent distribution of heat. The heaters are strategically positioned to achieve optimum air distribution around the floor to protect stored items — which can include household contents, business items or, even, a wine cellar — from frost and damp.

WindowMaster is developing and installing smoke-ventilation controls systems to operate over 2000 windows at the New Street Square redevelopment in London. It is one of the City of London’s largest office redevelopment projects and is a 68 000 m2 mixed-use scheme to replace a cluster of post-war offices with four contemporary buildings which open up to a landscaped central square lined by shops and cafes.

Just two 60 kW wall-hung Buderus 800 boilers have been installed at Ewell Castle School in Surrey to replace a huge 20-year-old floor-standing gas-fired boiler and several smaller boilers serving other parts of the school. They will also provide heating for outbuildings that were previously heated electrically.

Replacing a standby generator that could power only one lift in the offices of ntl:Telewest in Liverpool and replace it with one that would support the whole building utilised the full technical capabilities of Merlin Power Management.

Colt International's Caloris WRF (water refrigerant flow) air-conditioning system has been installed in the 5-star Luton Hoo hotel, a Grade 1 listed stately home close to Luton Airport. It is being restored by Elite Hotels to provide 144 luxury rooms in 17th century surroundings.

Ventilation for the temporary theatre of the Courtyard Theatre of the Royal Shakespeare Company is provided by fabric ducting supplied by Euro Air UK. This high-quality theatre enables performances to continue during the refurbishment of the Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Following major component failure of 15-year-old boiler plant serving a 9-storey building in Croydon and only a few weeks remaining before the start of the heating season. Argent FM pulled out all the stops to refurbish the heating system.

Thermal Transfer has completed a £4.5 million turnkey package for a large new sterile services decontamination centre in West Yorkshire.

The installation of Calorex combined heat-recovery and dehumidification units as part of the £6.85 million refurbishment of Pontypool Active Living Centre in Wales is reducing running costs by 42% compared with the previous air-handling unit. Carbon-dioxide emissions are being reduced by 51%, or 288 t per year.

The Peacocks retail chain is planning to install Panasonic FS deluxe split-system air conditioning in 30 outlets this year — adding to a large number of its UK stores already cooled with Panasonic equipment. The systems will be supplied by PHM Distribution for new and refurbished stores.

The flexibility of electrical distribution equipment from Moeller Electric has been fully exploited by Evans Electrical for The Lodge hotel in Cardiff, the first of a development of hotels specifically designed to combine luxurious accommodation with very competitive room rates. Comprehensive room services include power showers and air conditioning.

The power supply for key services in a nursing home in Hampshire is guaranteed following the replacement of a small generator with limited functionality with an 80 kVA automatic mains-failure system from Scorpion. It provides an unbreakable supply to all electrical equipment in Gorselands Nursing Home in Ringwood — including medical apparatus, IT, Kitchen equipment, lighting, lifts and telephones.

Indoor temperatures no longer reach 35°C in the Scunthorpe of ColepCCL following the installation of a Breezair evaporative cooling system from Seeley International. The system has reduced temperatures to 8 K below ambient temperature for the company, which is Europe’s largest manufacturer of personal care, cosmetics and over-the-counter medicated and household-care products. The company is also active in metal and plastic packaging.

Heat recovered from refrigerated display cabinets in a Tesco store opposite Clapham Common in London is being used as a heat source for a Versatemp heating/cooling system. The 2200 m2 store is part of a mixed development that also comprises residential outlets and basement car parking.

The replacement of shell-and-tube heat exchangers in satellite plant rooms in Buckingham with plate heat exchangers has halved distribution heat losses — and will ultimately reduce the annual energy bill by 8%.

Toshiba’s touch-screen control panel for air conditioning has been used for the first time in Europe in an award-winning conversion of a traditional school in Dublin into a public house. The Old Boro’ building has a beautifully restored Victorian interior with wood panelling, glass, old crystal and mirrors. It also has a state-of-the-art air-conditioning system supplied by Toshiba’s most experienced distributor, GT Phelan.

The Solatube daylighting system from SolaLighting maximises the amount of light that can be collected and transmitted into the building with a Fresnel lens system, integral LightTracker reflector and internal reflective surface that absorbs only 0.3% at each reflection. Captured light is also focused down the reflective tube at the steepest possible angle to minimise reflective losses.

The ClimaCheck performance analyser for refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat-pump systems enables system performance to be inspected and wear or problems with components to be detected without relying on preinstalled flow or kWh meters.

Honeywell’s wireless CM900 programmable thermostat can be used to create heating zones by transmitting time and temperature signals to wireless receivers on radiator and underfloor-heating valves. It can also transmit to a boiler controller, eliminating all control cables in a conventional installation.

Daikin Europe has added a single-phase 6 hp model to its Sky Air range of heat-pump comfort inverters.

Daikin Airconditioning UK has launched a fault-code SMS text services to help customers pinpoint and resolve problems on site.

CAD drafting tools that are used by over 7000 customers of Dutch software developer Stabiplan are being brought to the UK.

Vaillant has added a host of new indoor units to its climaVAIR range of multi-split air conditioning.

Even-Heat now offers a range of single-room packs to meet the growing demand for underfloor heating in garden rooms, extensions and conservatories.

Cylon Controls has devised a system to integrate the control of natural ventilation with other HVAC equipment. Based on KNX technology, the Cylon KNX gateway allows a Cylon building-management system to control an entire building — including blinds, window opening, traditional mechanical plant and lighting.

Bitzer has expanded its Octagon range of compressors with two new ranges for R410A and sub-critical carbon-dioxide applications.

The Sensaire range of air-handling units and extract fans are designed for low energy consumption and to comply with the requirements of Part L2 of the Building Regulations. They are available with a complete built-in controls package and a remote touch-screen controller.

Zafiro water-cooled scroll chillers from Johnson Controls use R410A and are said to be the first such chillers in the UK to achieve Class A efficiency.

Talbott C Series biomass boiler systems are now available from Stokvis Energy Systems. There are four models in the range, and they can cleanly burn wood fuels with high moisture content.

Smith’s Environmental Products has developed a fan convector to meet demand from installers for units with higher outputs for the light-commercial market.

Exhausto’s latest controller for its chimney automation systems and mechanical suppliers of combustion air ensures that the draught in the flue system is constantly correct to maximise fuel efficiency and safety, regardless of how many boilers are connected to the flue or external weather.

Carrier is now offering its all-aluminium micro-channel heat exchanger (MCHX) into Aquasnap chillers to improve efficiency and enhance corrosion resistance.

Eaton Electric has introduced a range of moulded thermoplastics wiring accessories with plates moulded from polycarbonate to make then extremely robust and resistant to cracking.

Eaton Electric has introduced a range of moulded thermoplastics wiring accessories with plates moulded from polycarbonate to make then extremely robust and resistant to cracking.

Rhoss modulating inverter chillers and heat pumps are claimed to use of to 15% less energy than standard on/off scroll systems. They are available in the UK through Rhoss’s exclusive distributor, Coolmation.