Metainy's design and build engineers air conditioned the newly extended and refurbished River Island store at the Lakeside Shopping Complex in Thurrock, Essex, and believe that the new 'compact' Toshiba 12.5 kW Digital Inverter Split Systems are a dream come true.

Metainy installed the first eleven of Toshiba's latest high technology inverter driven systems in the UK at Lakeside, located on the roof and on a wall in the service area. The secret is that they deliver as much capacity as units that are normally twice the size and weight.

Metainy's contract engineer, Jim Darlington, said "the conventional double fan units could not have been positioned at Lakeside without the use of a crane, the new 'compact' units were small enough to be carried up the stairs".

New fan designs in the outdoor unit save power and also contribute to reduced noise levels. A new 3 row multiple tube heat exchanger design increases heat exchange capacity over traditional two or single row designs.

The system operates with R410A and utilises a high efficiency DC twin rotary compressor requiring only a single phase power supply. The capacity ranges for this latest equipment are 5.0 to 12.5 kW in cooling and 5.6 to 14 kW in heating. The system is also capable of functioning in ambients down to -15°C.