A building in London’s Tech-City has been redeveloped in order to create 75,000 sq ft of new stand-out office and retail space. The work was delivered on Arnold House by Gilbert-Ash, with mechanical and electrical works completed by Irwin M&E. “Arnold House was a really interesting project to work on,”
Over three quarters of company’s UK sales of RAC and PAC technologies in February 2019 were for R32 systems, reflecting a market shift towards the lower GWP product Mitsubishi Electric has said that UK demand for RAC and PAC systems has dramatically shifted within the last two years away from
The joy of getting up and enjoying a shower in the morning cannot be overstated. However, the horror of stepping into that blissful shower to discover that your hot water cylinder is delivering nothing, but icy cold water is not the rude awakening you want. So, what causes a household
Within the UK, the construction sector loses £400 million per year on average due to theft of site equipment and other crimes. According to research into construction site crime held by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), around 92% of site managers report facing issues with theft on a weekly,
A major M&E contract at Leeds Beckett University has been landed by SES for a new £45 million sports hub. Delivered by contractor Galliford Try, the project will involve building a new state-of-the-art Carnegie Teaching and Research Building, which will house the Carnegie School of Sport, located at the Headingley campus. SES
GBE Converge have been appointed by SES (Engineering Services) to design and install the Security systems for the new £40m York Community Stadium and Leisure Complex. The scheme is an exciting public and private funded mixed-use destination for York and will provide a new 8,000 capacity home for York City
Tate Consulting is a well-established national building services engineering company that provides a strategic, flexible, experienced and innovative approach in delivering engineering and management consultancy services for its clients. Tate Consulting’s successful reputation has been built on master planning and managing the utility infrastructure requirements for development sites and their
The ventilation solution for indoor sports facilities needs to adhere to special requirements, as the climate changes constantly depending on what activities are going on inside the facility. Moreover, moisture and odours from athletes and spectators affect the air as well. Therefore, it is important that the ventilation solution is designed
Consulting engineers practice Brentwood has announced an expansion with new offices in Yorkshire and the Midlands. It has acquired new creative workspace in the Grade I-listed Leeming Building in Leeds city centre and Historic Alpha Building in Birmingham City Centre. Whilst it retains its headquarters in Harrogate, Brentwood is embarking
With district heat networks becoming a key solution to the UK delivering a low carbon energy economy, Altecnic’s Specification and Technical team members have been awarded CIBSE accreditation as heat consultants. Says Gary Perry, Managing Director of Altecnic: “Heat networks deliver reliable heating and hot water while reducing energy consumption and
A building in London’s Tech-City has been redeveloped in order to create 75,000 sq ft of new stand-out office and retail space. The work was delivered on Arnold House by Gilbert-Ash, with mechanical and electrical works completed by Irwin M&E. “Arnold House was a really interesting project to work on,” said Matthew Bowden, Irwin M&E Contracts Manager. “Delivered under a Design and Build contract, we used 3D Autocad to design the duct work which was prefabricated off site. This allowed us to implement just-in-time delivery to site, which was important as it is located on a very busy street with restricted access. This in turn meant a quicker turnaround and installation, with no bottlenecks on supplies. It was also preferable from a Health, Safety and Quality perspective as the duct work was prefabricated in a controlled factory environment and meant that a Hot Works permit was not required on site.” Adding to the company’s success in delivering technologically advanced buildings, the project benefited from several sustainable technologies, incorporated by Arnold House. It also attained a BREEAM Very Good certification and a WiredScore Gold Certification. “The project architect BuckleyGrayYeoman, incorporated traditional-style industrial lighting fixtures which acknowledged the building’s industrial past. We procured these high-bay lights from a recycling yard and installed them as impressive feature lighting in the building’s reception,” added Matthew Bowden. Irwin M&E worked with Shoreditch Council, while also employing two apprentices on site, one Mechanical the other Electrical, for the duration of the project. The company has previously worked on the new Innovation Centre for 5G Technology at the University of Surrey.
Over three quarters of company’s UK sales of RAC and PAC technologies in February 2019 were for R32 systems, reflecting a market shift towards the lower GWP product Mitsubishi Electric has said that UK demand for RAC and PAC systems has dramatically shifted within the last two years away from use of R410A towards lower GWP R32 refrigerant. The manufacturer has said that 80 per cent of sales in these segments last month was for technology designed for R32, a product that has a lower level of flammability. During the same time last year, R32 represented 30 per cent of its RAC and PAC sales, according to Mark Grayston, product marketing manager with Mitsubishi Electric Living Environmental Systems UK. Ongoing quota restrictions on the amount of CO2 equivalent that manufacturers such as Mitsubishi Electric are able to import to the UK under EU F-Gas regulation has been a key driver in pushing the market towards lower GWP products. This has proven to be the case even with the low levels of flammability and the subsequent handling challenges that these newer refrigerant products pose that is not present in higher GWP gas. Mr Grayston said that Mitsubishi Electric’s main focus for R32 products at present was the company’s HVRF technology, where it was in the process of expanding the capacity of outdoor units to between 22kW and 56kW. He added, “We have already moved the majority of our split systems (between 1.5kW and 14kW) to R32, with further R32 releases to come in 2019.” Mr Graytson said that changes introduced in the 6th edition of IEC regulation 60335-2-40 would widening the usage envelope for low flammability refrigerant such as R32. However, he argued that the EN378 safety and environmental standard has not been amended to pick up these changes, meaning some of the challenges to expanding use of the lower flammability refrigerant remained in place. Mr Graytson said, “With good design and following the manufacturers and regulation guidelines high capacity R32 systems can be designed and installed in most commercial applications. Currently R32 HVRF allows for higher capacity systems to be installed because water is run to each fan coil and therefore we don’t need to deal with refrigerant into the occupied spaces.” “As consultants and air conditioning installers gain more experience of A2L refrigerants the wider the scope will be for bigger high capacity systems to be released into the UK and European markets.”
The joy of getting up and enjoying a shower in the morning cannot be overstated. However, the horror of stepping into that blissful shower to discover that your hot water cylinder is delivering nothing, but icy cold water is not the rude awakening you want. So, what causes a household to run out of hot water? More importantly, what can be done about it? I once lived in a rental apartment which had a hot water cylinder so small that in order for me to wash and condition my hair required a two-part shower. I’d wash my hair, add the conditioner, turn the shower off and wait for the hot water cylinder to heat up again, then wash my conditioner out. This was great if you wanted a really deep conditioning treatment, not so great if you were running late for work. In order to make sure that you and your household don’t go without hot water, there are a few tips and tricks you can look at. What Type of Cylinder Do You Have? Although continuous gas hot water cylinders are becoming more popular (continuous cylinders are regularly installed overseas), in Australia one of the primary types of cylinder that has been installed in houses and apartments for years is the standard storage tank. These come in a range of sizes and work by filling the cylinder with cold water and heating the water, often with an electrical element. This type of cylinder is prone to providing cold showers, because once the heated water has been drained from the tank, it refills with cold water and needs to be reheated. Sometimes the problem is caused by the household having a hot water cylinder that is simply too small for it’s needs, so it is quickly drained (although it also quickly refills and reheats). However, a larger tank may not always be the solution. One person having a luxurious long bath may completely drain the tank, leaving no hot water for an hour or more. Hot water for everyone If you have the storage tank type of hot water cylinder, your first option to making sure that there is enough hot water to go around is to have a discussion about anti-social behaviour and hogging all the hot water. From there, your next option is to work out if you have the right sized tank for your needs. It has been suggested that the average person uses 35l of hot water a day – obviously this is an estimate and will be subject to seasonal fluctuation as well. If there are two of you in a 1-bedroom apartment, a 50l storage cylinder may work. If you are a family of 6, this is unlikely to provide anyone with a warm shower. The South Australian government has provided a calculator that helps you work out how much hot water you need and looks at your options for hot water supply: https://www.sa.gov.au/topics/energy-and-environment/using-saving-energy/water-heaters/water-heater-calculator. This can provide you a great starting point but talk to your hot water installation professional before making your final decision, as they may have suggestions or advice that fits your specific location and needs; the online calculator is great, but may not think about access, sunlight/shade or a multitude of other considerations that an experienced installer will notice immediately. Hot Water, All the Time Once you start looking at options for hot water supply, the idea of instantaneous hot water starts to develop huge appeal. Particularly if you are the one regularly getting a cold shower. Having a gas system can provide a continuous supply of hot water, but people may think they are unable to use this system because there is no natural gas line available in their area. However, these systems can be installed using gas bottles as well as directly to a supply line, so the only issue comes with how easy it is to access the gas bottle to exchange it when it runs out. Free Hot Water Another tempting option is using a solar heater (click here) – either purely solar or solar as a boost to an electrical system. Although not actually free, using a solar hot water solution can bring down the costs of heating your water.
Within the UK, the construction sector loses £400 million per year on average due to theft of site equipment and other crimes. According to research into construction site crime held by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), around 92% of site managers report facing issues with theft on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. Theft within construction is, therefore, a continuing problem, and smart site managers should be trying their best to address the issues and put the correct preventative measures in place to protect high-value plant and equipment. More often than not, theft is an opportunistic crime, which is why it is frequently carried out by onsite staff. Here, Millennium Security discusses several ways in which employee theft on construction sites can be minimised. Check certifications thoroughly Certified staff should be the only people able to work on a construction site, both for health and safety and security purposes. Carrying out frequent, full background checks will help ensure that every member of staff, contractor and supplier entering the premises has the correct accreditations to do so. Issuing smart CSCS cards guarantees that access is granted only to certified employees, and is an industry-recognised certification scheme within the construction sector. For added security purposes, many site managers choose to hire manned guards to watch over the site 24/7. If doing so, it is important to ensure they are correctly certified by the industry-known Security Industry Authority (SIA), which means they have been through proper training and can guard a site to the necessary standard. Report crimes promptly If a theft has taken place, it must be reported to the authorities as soon as possible, since the likelihood of finding stolen goods is higher when reported quickly. Moreover, reporting a theft is usually an obligatory step in the insurance claims process. Mark high-value plant and equipment Unsurprisingly, the recovery stats for stolen equipment are particularly low, and this is especially true where equipment is not easily identifiable. Characteristic values, therefore, enable police to better identify stolen goods. Marking equipment, noting down serial numbers and creating an on-site inventory, are all sensible ways to help identify and account for valuable tools and machinery. Moreover, there is now a central database which is run by the Construction Equipment and Registration Scheme (CESAR) and encourages site managers to tag all equipment and add it to the database, allowing for easier recovery when goods are stolen. By having identifiable features on all high-value equipment, you may also dissuade light-fingered employees from attempting to steal goods, as they may fear being caught. Restrict and monitor access Monitoring who is physically entering a construction site at all hours of the day is important, as it safeguards against unauthorised people gaining access. Manual checks can be time consuming and are often inefficient, particularly on large sites with a significant number of people coming in and out. As such, many site owners have now started investing in modern access control systems, which ensure that only the people who have authority to enter a site can do so. These systems are very advanced and also log how long a member of staff has remained on site, as well as whether a person is using an expired or fake CSCS card to try to enter. Other security systems which can be used to monitor staff access are CCTV and wireless video detection, both of which help maximise security and can assist in identifying crimes rapidly.
A major M&E contract at Leeds Beckett University has been landed by SES for a new £45 million sports hub. Delivered by contractor Galliford Try, the project will involve building a new state-of-the-art Carnegie Teaching and Research Building, which will house the Carnegie School of Sport, located at the Headingley campus. SES will design and install a full range of building services on the development, which will include a hypoxic laboratory, a health and wellbeing studio, an indoor 60m sprint track for performance training and analysis, a roof walker track and terrace, and an enhanced strength and conditioning space as well as changing and recovery facilities. “Having recently had the privilege of working with Galliford Try on a number of complex higher education facilities, such as the award-winning refurbishment of the University of Leeds’ world-class School of Chemical and Process Engineering, we have amassed a great deal of knowledge and experience of the sector,” said SES business director North and Scotland, Steve Joyce. “To be involved with such an innovative building as the Carnegie Teaching and Research Building further cements our excellent working relationship with the contractor. It also presents a further opportunity for SES to demonstrate its BIM Level 2 experience to great effect,” added Steve. The Carnegie Teaching and Research Building is scheduled for completion in Autumn 2019.
GBE Converge have been appointed by SES (Engineering Services) to design and install the Security systems for the new £40m York Community Stadium and Leisure Complex. The scheme is an exciting public and private funded mixed-use destination for York and will provide a new 8,000 capacity home for York City Football Club and York City Knights RLFC. It will also offer a swimming pool, fitness and active play facilities, as well as a new community hub providing health and wellbeing services and commercial leisure uses for the city and beyond. GBE Converge will be working with partners Honeywell for Intruder Detection Systems, HIK Vison for CCTV, and xPLAN for Access Control ensuring the facility has a fully integrated, bespoke and future-proofed security solution. GBE Converge are scheduled to complete their work in May 2019 with the complex opening during the summer. Andy Westgarth, GBE Converge’s Business Development Manager commented “We are delighted to be working with our long-standing client SES (Engineering Services) and to be part of this exciting project that will serve as a real asset to the York community”.
Tate Consulting is a well-established national building services engineering company that provides a strategic, flexible, experienced and innovative approach in delivering engineering and management consultancy services for its clients. Tate Consulting’s successful reputation has been built on master planning and managing the utility infrastructure requirements for development sites and their experience spans across every market sector; including logistics, industrial, residential and mixed use, commercial, education, retail and leisure. For more information please visit; https://www.tateconsulting.eu As engineering experts, Tate Consulting explain the five main challenges…. Developments in Technology Whilst new digital technology like BIM is changing the way we operate, the speed of innovation and implementation can be slow within teams that aren’t used to the idiosyncrasies of drawing in 3D compared with traditional 2D methods. And as the industry makes greater use of offsite construction methods such as pod bathrooms, offsite manufactured services cupboards and whole building offsite methods, there can be difficulties in front loading design processes to accommodate these techniques at an early stage. The use of smart technology is constantly evolving and therefore our knowledge and implementation needs to keep up. Smart Buildings can present real opportunities for the client to optimise the planning, usage and help them to manage the building more intelligently in order to make it more efficient, better maintained, improve living, working and leisure environments and to create a unique building experience tailored to individual needs. But technology developments within our sector are still largely a new and unfamiliar inclusion to the majority of contractors, so there is a requirement for educating contractors and clients of the benefits, disadvantages and realistic limitations of smart technology systems. Also, managing expectations is still difficult as some clients are generally unaware of exactly what they want to achieve and require detailed guidance on the best use of available technology. The key to successfully implementing smart technology is to discuss and understand the client’s needs and help to educate them on how this can be achieved. It’s important to remember that innovation and technology won’t succeed if they don’t fulfil the clients’ needs, smart technology is only a means to an end and while initial interest in a new product may initially peek the client’s interest, it will soon become a fad if they are stuck with a white elephant which offers little in the way of return. Offsite Construction There are often difficulties in adopting offsite construction methods although they are shown to be quicker for the contractor with less waste and associated carbon emissions compared with traditional building techniques. However, for the greatest value and cost efficiency to be achieved, buildings need to be designed from an early stage for offsite construction rather than late in the process after main contractor appointment. Payment Terms Another on-going problem within our industry is payment in terms of subcontractors. Most people will have seen the recent news headlines and social media posts that went viral after a mini-digger operator was filmed destroying the entrance to a new hotel in Liverpool – on the day it was due to be completed – allegedly because he had not been paid. This is not a scenario anyone within the industry wants to see but also not really a surprising one as it’s often the smaller firms and individuals who suffer. A good example of this was the demise of Carillion last year. Lessons need to be learnt from these mistakes by enforcing fair payment policy and legislation. Regulatory Changes The new revisions to The BS 7671 wiring regulations and the new BREEAM standards are now in effect, and whilst the changes are generally not too dramatic at these early stages there is still a lot of grey areas around their interpretation which will need clarifying and amending over the coming years. With the restructure of the BREEAM New Construction in particular we are now having to target a number of key criteria earlier in the project, which puts more onus on the client to involve a BREEAM advisor/consultant at the early stages of development. This is to prevent credits being missed and the need to then chase more difficult/costly credits later in the project. Also, as these amendments are new it is yet to be seen how the audit process will interpret the changes in evidence requirements. Therefore, assessors will have to be stricter whilst they get used to what will and won’t be accepted. Staff retention and shortage One of the major challenges within engineering is staff shortage and disappointingly it’s still much more a male-orientated role with just 12% of engineers being women, something the industry needs to actively help change. More needs to be done to educate young people on the marketability and benefits of a career in engineering, but for real change to happen this problem needs to be tackled within early education to push science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries. Retaining staff within construction and engineering is a constant headache and as a younger new breed enters our industry we need to acknowledge that we need to adapt a new approach in welcoming them and offering the same benefits and perks they’d receive within other industry sectors. This is an area we at Tate Consulting want to improve on in 2019 and are actively looking to recruit new people to join our team in Leeds and expand our London office by offering substantial career incentives as well as a very competitive salary package. If you’re interested in working with us please email; jeff.bearcroft@tateconsulting.eu
The ventilation solution for indoor sports facilities needs to adhere to special requirements, as the climate changes constantly depending on what activities are going on inside the facility. Moreover, moisture and odours from athletes and spectators affect the air as well. Therefore, it is important that the ventilation solution is designed to handle these changes in humidity, temperature, etc. without creating discomfort for the people using the facility. Sports facilities cover a number of different application types, each requiring its own unique solution. Each application requires a thorough assessment of the important parameters, such as room dimensions, the primary purpose of the air, the risk of corrosion, special temperature requirements, elements affecting the induction patterns and so on. Thus, sports facilities also place great demands on the flexibility of the solution. The best suited dispersion technology for sports facilities is therefore fabric ducting. It is the solution that offers the greatest design flexibility while eliminating the risk of condensation and corrosion. Textile channel systems are designed for the specific application. This means that flow models and dispersion patterns can be completely adapted to the individual needs. The design flexibility covers all elements, such as the duct profile, type of fabric and its permeability, flow models and flow patterns, as well as the suspension method. The system is tailor-made and arrives ready for installation, in typically less than two weeks from the order is released for production. The textile channels are also distinguished by weighing far less than conventional metal solutions. Therefore, they are suitable for retrofitting in existing buildings. They weigh as little as 300g / m2 despite the fact that they provide a much better air distribution than the other technologies on the market. They can therefore easily be retrofitted in older sports facilities. Since the very beginning in 1973, even air distribution, no drafts and no condensation have been at the heart of FabricAir’s innovative technology. This is why technology quickly spread across application types and national borders. More than 40% of all countries in the world today use this fabric-based air dispersion technology because comfort, design freedom and other important features, such as condensation-free, are essential parameters in choosing the ideal ventilation solution for sports facilities.
Consulting engineers practice Brentwood has announced an expansion with new offices in Yorkshire and the Midlands. It has acquired new creative workspace in the Grade I-listed Leeming Building in Leeds city centre and Historic Alpha Building in Birmingham City Centre. Whilst it retains its headquarters in Harrogate, Brentwood is embarking on a national growth strategy which has already seen new office bases in Manchester during 2018. Since a senior management buyout took place in 2013 the Brentwood Partnership has changed its status to become a Limited Company to help structure for growth. It was also selected for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK Programme which identifies and gives support to small companies with a strong business model and high growth potential. Brentwood has since set out an ambitious three-year strategy to achieve 50% annual growth in both team members and turnover. It is currently on target to achieve an 80% increase in just one year as it works towards year end in March 2019. Mark Johnson, Director at Brentwood, said, “We are delighted to announce our expansion into Leeds and Birmingham. With a presence now in the three core business cities outside of London we can provide more physical connectivity with our local markets and indeed nationally. With this physical growth we are also expanding our team and capabilities having recently announced new principal specialists in lighting and building physics. “Mechanical, electrical and public health design services are at the heart of buildings, providing sustainable, controllable and appropriate environments. As a single disciplinary consulting practice, we are gearing the business to be better placed for market growth and our longer-term business plan is to increase our UK and international presence.” Brentwood is an award-winning practice which has been established for more than 40 years. It offers expertise in mechanical engineering design, electrical engineering design, lighting design, public health design, condition and site surveys, energy and communications infrastructure design, feasibility studies, planning support and post occupancy evaluation. It also has a dedicated resource to energy assessments. Key projects include the new Barbara Hepworth Building for art, design and architecture at the University of Huddersfield, The University of York’s Advanced Structural Imaging Facility, £30m student scheme International House in Birmingham, Cheshire Oaks, Mercedes Benz in Stockport and Chaucer House in Portsmouth.
With district heat networks becoming a key solution to the UK delivering a low carbon energy economy, Altecnic’s Specification and Technical team members have been awarded CIBSE accreditation as heat consultants. Says Gary Perry, Managing Director of Altecnic: “Heat networks deliver reliable heating and hot water while reducing energy consumption and lowering bills for the end user. Heat networks allow easy integration of various low carbon heat sources. When decentralised systems are done well, it is a real win win for all those involved as well as the environment”. “While the technology is well proven in the UK and across Europe, it is still relatively new to some specifiers and heating engineers. Sadly, because of this, some networks have suffered and aren’t performing as well as they should and this has led to some high profile bad press”. “In response CIBSE and the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) have collaborated and produced a code of practice for heat networks, called CP1. Its aim is to raise standards and the understanding of heat networks right across the supply chain. As a manufacturer of heating interface units (HIUs) for such systems, we have always championed the CIBSE scheme“. “As CIBSE approved heat network consultants our specification managers and technical team are qualified to advise and help in the specification, sizing and design of schemes. It is in all of our interests that such schemes are successful and we have always gone above and beyond as a manufacturer by not only attaining CIBSE accreditation for our specification team, but also in the training and technical help that we provide for installation and maintenance engineers. Our CIBSE approved CPD seminars are another example of our will to improve the knowledge and understanding of heat network systems” The CIBSE CP1 code of practice on heat networks covers all forms of district heating from communal building heat to large city-wide schemes. It is designed to apply to both new networks and extensions of existing networks. The code specifies minimum requirements which must be met in order to produce a successful scheme and comply with the code. It then details further information on best practice for those looking to move beyond the minimum requirements. To speak to one of Altecnic’s CIBSE accredited heat consultants, telephone 01785 218200 or email specifications@altecnic.co.uk.
