Sophisticated monitoring of emergency lighting using an integrated system from TridonicAtco will reduce maintenance costs at St Mary’s NHS Treatment Centre in Portsmouth. It also achieves full compliance with the new automatic-testing standard EN 62034. It is believed to be the only self-testing system for emergency lighting that provides full compliance with this standard and obviates the need for visual tests.

The Isceon 9 series of direct replacement refrigerants for R22 is available in the UK through IDS Refrigeration following its appointment as UK authorised distributor by DuPont. This refrigerant is 9% more energy efficient than R22.

Nearly 200 000 m2 of multi-services chilled beams (MSCBs) have been supplied by Trox for office refurbishment projects since production started in 2000. Recently renovated buildings in London include the Empress State Building, Riverside House and the Ministry of Defence. These three projects alone include over 35 km of MSCBs.

New boilers and water-heating equipment supplied by Hamworthy Heating for Stowmarket Leisure Centre will provide heating and hot water for the complex, which is used by 520 000 people a year.

Reznor gas-fire unit heaters installed as part of the refurbished of the warehouse, production and distribution centre of H. C. Slingsby Plc in Shipley deliver temperature-controlled warm air between the racking without impeding the manoeuvrability of fork-lift trucks and pickers.

LEE BENSLEY explores the issues surrounding the maintenance of lighting systems, including emergency lighting.

Air-handling units on each floor of the 16-storey AA headquarters in Basingstoke have been replaced by Specialist Site Services with new units from VES. The original AHUs on each floor provided heating and cooling, with fresh air bled from a central-station air handler in a roof-top plantroom. The building was constructed in the early 1970s.

Dalkia has won a contract to provide mechanical and electrical maintenance to nearly 30 Crown and County Court buildings for Her Majesty’s Court Service in the East Midlands.

The cost of heating a Roman Catholic church in Manchester for a typical service has been reduced to less than £10 following the replacement of natural-convection heaters with 16 fully modulating, gas-powered fanned-flue heaters convection heaters from Rinnai. St John Bosco Church has a volume of about 5500 m3 and is now served by 16 heaters with an output of 10.2 kW each.

A total of 27 evaporative coolers have been installed in the picking and packing halls of Redcats (UK) to reduce excessively high temperatures in the summer. They provide the 240 employees in the two halls of this mail-order division of French-based Pinault-Printemps-Redout with a more comfortable working environment.

Conditions in the swimming pool of South Moorlands Leisure Centre in Staffordshire have been transformed following the installation of a heat-recovery air-handling unit from Calorex Heat Pumps. Before the overhaul of the existing ventilation system, the pool hall suffered condensation and damp problems, resulting in rotting windows and doors as well as unpleasant conditions for swimmers and staff.

With recent refurbishment and additional buildings added to the public areas of Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick demanding an overhaul of the existing heating equipment, York has provided a heat pump as part of a geothermal system.

TREVOR DANN discusses the issues surrounding replacing R22 in chillers to enable them to continue to be used as this refrigerant becomes increasingly unavailable.

It took just a week to install air conditioning for six suites of luxury rooms in Dunkerley’s, a popular Grade 2 listed hotel and restaurant in Deal, using Toshiba’s R410A digital Inverter Split System. The equipment was installed by A1 Refrigeration & Air Conditioning to improve comfort in this hotel, which is sited on an exposed corner, so traffic noise precludes the opening of windows. It faces the Sun for much of the day and catches the wind in winter. Heat-pump air conditioning is providing an ideal solution and demonstrating the potential for providing air conditioning for older and historically significant buildings.

A new heating system from Nordair/Niche now enables Claire’s Court School in Maidenhead to use its swimming pool all year round, maintaining its competitive edge against local rivals.

Maintenance should be a key element of any energy management strategy — but often is not. SIMON YEATES explains the benefits of taking a more holistic approach

The progressive replacement of building-management systems at Royal Preston Hospital is making possible the effective implementation of the energy-management policy of a site with an energy bill of £3.4 million.

Maintenance should be geared towards keeping a business or operation running, which is not the same as caring for assets and preventing failure. PADDY HASTINGS explains the issues.

Gas-fired CHP has been installed as art of the refurbishment of the boiler house serving sheltered accommodation in Bradford. Shuttleworth House is run by Bradford Community Housing Trust. It is around 30 years old and consists of 43 self-contained flats, a communal lounge, dining room and laundry room.

As part of the £10 million restoration of Saltwell Park for Gateshead Council, Hadrian Air Conditioning & Refrigeration has installed a Daikin VRV heat-recovery system supplied by Space Airconditioning.

ALISON NICHOLL explores the interaction between factors driving the development of intelligent buildings and those driving the development of professional facilities management.

Dramatic Lighting immediately attracts attention. Modern and imaginative techniques play a key role in creating stimulating environments in workplaces — as the latest Lighting Design Awards demonstrate.

When a new building is planned, there is tremendous emphasis on minimising the cost of construction. But what about the lifetime costs of the building? These largely unconsidered costs offer much greater scope for savings, says KEVIN JONES.

Policy statements and initiatives from the Government on reducing Britain’s carbon emissions and boosting the country’s use of renewable energy abound. At the same time, we regularly hear that Britain’s carbon emissions are not falling fast enough and that the country is unlikely to meet its Kyoto commitments.

An intensive campaign to reduce carbon emissions starts on 5 June — and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, supported by the Carbon Trust, is urging all types of organisations to get involved.

Northampton contractor Briggs & Forrester has sponsored the Northampton & District Rugby Alliance Cup Final for the sixteenth successive year. The match was played between two amateur teams at Franklins Gardens, home of premiership team Northampton Saints.

The passing of legislation by the European Parliament to control the emissions of HFCs for air-conditioning and refrigeration applications has been welcomed by the president of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations, Neil Afram. The legislation recognises the importance of containment and handling to control emissions of these F-gases from such equipment and was passed overwhelmingly by 476 votes, with 46 against and 25 abstentions.

The Underfloor Heating Manufacturers’ Association is to work with a producer of hardwood floors to promote better understanding of the synergy between the two products. The objective is to achieve designs that are right first time and a more realistic costing.

Major changes in public-sector procurement could be prompted by a report from the National Audit Office ‘Improving public services through better construction’, according to the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group.

Providing heating systems burning wood fuel in homes in Gleadless and Burngreave in Yorkshire is one of the objectives of £200 000 of funding from Yorkshire Forward for the South Yorkshire Woodfuel Project by South Yorkshire Forest Partnership.

Having broken his ankle working on site last year, Colin Johnstone knows first hand the importance of health and safety in electrical contracting — which is why he has been appointed health-and-safety officer for WWW Electrical of Glasgow.

Orders for commercial and industrial work in the private sector continue to surge ahead, according to the latest figures published by National Statistics.

Contributing to the ever-changing skyline of Leeds city centre is the 32-storey Bridgewater Place, for which M&E contractor is SES. This is the view from the fifth floor, and the building makes extensive use of prefabricated services.

Senior Hargreaves has added another branch to its Ductshop chain. It is at Copley Hill Trading Estate in Leeds and provides a complete range of commercial and industrial ventilation products.

The sales of Grundfos Pumps grew by 10.4% to £1253 million last year. The company’s sixtieth year also saw its largest-ever pre-tax profit of £116 million, despite relatively high prices of materials and a weak US dollar. 2005 became the third consecutive year of record earnings.

Dalkia has been recognised for the added value and confidence it brings to customers through the purchasing influences influence it can leverage to deliver office and industrial equipment at lower costs to the end user. The Certificate of Excellence was awarded by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply to this provider of technical facilities services and energy management.

Businesses working in commercial and domestic heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and refrigeration can now certify their work online through BESCA, Building Engineering Services Accreditation Ltd.

The membership of CIBSE Patrons has reached 100 with the joining of contractor NG Bailey & Co. At the same time, CIBSE has launched a £10 000 fund to support up to 10 educational projects over the next 12 months.

King Shaw Associates has been appointed building-services consultant by the Royal Albert Hall to implement recommendations made in a feasibility study in 2005.

Hoare Lea has been appointed M&E consulting engineer for The Cube, the final phase of The Mailbox mixed-use development in Birmingham. The appointment was made by Birmingham Development Company, and the practice will also provide advice on acoustics, BREEAM, lift engineering, specialist lighting and sustainability.

LG has appointed Osprey Air to its growing list of specialist distributors for VRF air conditioning. The company is headed by industry veteran Bob Beattie and will be an LG-brand sole distributor focusing on the Multi V range of VRF and multi-split products.

PETER NEARS is concerned that the performance and energy-saving benefits of modern pumps are not fully exploited — especially with energy prices rising rapidly.

The environmental benefits of natural ventilation and natural daylight are being exploited at two new major PFI hospitals in Bristol by installing Monodraught Windcatcher and SunPipe systems. They are Callington Road Hospital, which was conceptually designed by BDP, and Fromeside Hospital by Devereux. Hurley Palmer Flatt was the M&E consulting engineer.

The latest application of Powrmatic heating equipment at Chester Zoo is the Tsavo exhibit, home to the zoo’s rhinos.

Among a number of prestigious projects in the Cambridge area using radiators from Bisque Commercial is a contract to supply 142 radiators to St Edmunds College.

The first earth ducts to provide ventilation that will reduce energy consumption by up to 75% are laid at the Butterfield business and technology park in Luton. The system is designed to regulate internal air temperatures and deliver excellent air quality.

Continuous radiant tube heating has been supplied by Ambi-Rad for the new K2 community sports and leisure complex in Crawley.

TV shopping channel QVC has refurbished part of its studios at Marco Polo House in London using the Kingspan KoolDuct system as the best option for the project. The work involves an extensive upgrade of a ground-floor control room, which was enlarged to accommodate to latest transmission technology.

Both cooling and heating are provided for an extension to the headquarters of Britannia Coaches in Dover by a Toshiba digital inverter split air-conditioning system. Installed by A1 Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, the system uses R410A and operates in heat-pump mode to provide heating.

Four prefabricated plant rooms have been supplied by Fulton Boiler Works to provide heating and hot water for the young-offenders institution at Wetherby.

Air conditioning for this unusual-looking building on Broad Street opposite Southwark underground station in London includes 750 fan-coil units made by Ability Projects. These 4-pipe Titan horizontal chassis-type FCUs are supplied with chilled water and LPHW from chiller and boiler plant in the roof-top plant room.

Some 400 specially designed 2-pipe fan coil units are being supplied by Ability Projects to provide air conditioning for the 29-storey Ontario Tower in London’s Docklands. Developed by the Ballymore Company, the first phase of this project will comprise 260 luxury studios, suites and apartments, as well as a number of penthouses.

Contributing to the energy-efficient operation of the National Assembly for Wales is a wide range of variable-speed pumps, pressurisation units and booster sets supplied by Grundfos. It is expected that the wide range of energy-efficiency features in this 5000 m2 building will nearly halve consumption compared with current best practice for office buildings – 75 kWh/m2 per year compared with 130 kWh/m2 per year.

The environmental-friendly design of a former gas-holding area in Airdrie town centre into 2500 m2 of lettable office space for business start-ups includes a sedum grass roof and passive stack ventilation.

Thousands of diffusers have been supplied for an office development in the City of London by Gilberts of Blackpool in a contract worth £100 000. The 18-storey Aldermanbury Square development will be one of the focal points of a newly re-energised City quarter in the Wood Street/London Wall precinct when it is opened later this year.

The installation of a VRF air-conditioning system to provide both heating and cooling has made it possible for a traditional department store in Cranleigh, Surrey, to expand into a warehousing area. This single-skin building experiences extreme swings of temperature, aggravated by the installation of an intermediate floor.

Both units are connected to vertical ground-loop heat exchangers and serve 4-pipe fan-coil units with water-side control installed in the ceiling voids

Ductwork manufacturer Lindab has launched a comprehensive range of ventilation fans. The collection covers all fan requirements for ducted ventilation systems and products for all aspects of non-ducted extraction and air movement.

Jasun Filtration is now producing its G4- and F5-grade pleated filters with Kimberly-Clark’s upgraded Intrepid filtration medium, which does not support the growth of bacteria or mould.

To provide a weekend service for refrigeration contractors and plant managers, Bitzer has introduced an emergency help line. It is available from 1700 h on Fridays to 0830 h on Mondays and provides spare parts or technical for Bitzer compressors. The service includes bank holidays. The number is 0845 230 3007.

Victaulic has introduced a range of large-diameter rigid and flexible couplings, fittings, valves and accessories for pipework.

LindabSafe reducers for circular ductwork are claimed to allow step-downs to be achieved in shorter distances than other compact reducers and, at the same time, create less pressure drop. It is also said that for step-downs of one or two diameters, they can perform better than some long reducers.

Ideal Boilers has extended its Imax range of high-efficiency boilers with the Xtra series of condensing boilers. Six models offer outputs from 80 to 280 kW with an efficiency of up to 107.5% net at 30% load. More models later this year will increase outputs to 560 kW.

The Aventis ventilation heat-recovery system for spaces up to 400 m3 transfers energy from extract air to incoming air with an efficiency of 90%, which is said to reduce the heating requirements of such a space by up to 23 500 kWh a year compared with using an air-handling unit without heat recovery.

LG’s Universal Synchro outdoor unit for multi-split air-conditioning systems produces very little noise through the use of MPS technology. It uses R410A.

Robbens Systems has developed a manifold for underfloor heating systems that combines smart appearance with features to ensure a more efficient system.

Apollo’s new sounder beacon base combines an integrated base sounder, loop-powered beacon and isolator in once unit.

Direct-driven forward-curved double-inlet centrifugal fans from Axair Fans are designed for air-handling units and other low-pressure applications.

AET has added energy-metering capability to the Liebert Hiross control system available as part of Hiross underfloor air conditioning provided in the Flexible Space concept. The system can thus provide an accurate, easily reconfigurable and cost-effective alternative to using building-management systems for this purpose in multi-tenanted commercial buildings.

Vent-Axia has launched two ranges of air-handling units for commercial applications. Viking FP and XP units are designed for ease of installation, long life and low noise emissions. There is a wide range of modules for cooling, heating, filtration, heat recovery and humidification. XP units can be mounted on the roof or in a plant room. FP units have a slim design so that they can be installed above suspended ceilings.

The QAX series of room units from Siemens Building Technologies are flush mounting and designed for use with a wide range of Siemens controllers and automation stations. These units measure and display room temperature and also provide pushbutton control for convenient and accurate adjustment of the room temperature setpoint. Depending on the type of heating system, functionality such as manual control of fan speed in fan-coil systems can be provided.

Matrix fan-coil units from Ability Projects have electronically commutated motors and are available as 2- and 4-pipe horizontal-chassis units offering up to 8 kW of cooling and 5 kW of heating.

The Biral range of Mini energy P twin-head pumps consume less than 50 W of electricity to serve a 1000 kW heating system. They can provide duty and standby in one unit and require just two isolating valves, reducing installation cost.

Vaillant is entering the commercial-boiler market in the UK with the launch of a range of wall-hung high-efficiency condensing boilers. There are three models in the EcoMax range with outputs of 35, 46 and 65 kW. They weigh 41, 45 and 72 kg, respectively.

Marstair is now making the Fifos range of electric boilers for the UK market. These boilers use a patented electric injector system to heat water for wet-central-heating systems. They are suitable for underfloor or radiator systems.

Colt International is promoting its WRF air-conditioning system as a viable alternative to VRF. It is described as combining the advantages of VRF with a safe and flexible water-based system.

New sensors from Sontay feature the latest digital technology to offer precision measurement for relative humidity in commercial and public buildings.

Venture Lighting Europe was commended for its Ventronic control gear for high-pressure sodium or metal-halide light sources. This electronic control gear enables high-wattage