| Eight Toshiba systems used by Andrews Air Conditioning to cut building's CO2 load |
| The transformation of a large office block in the Manchester suburbs, Rutherford House, formerly British Nuclear Fuels Limited's design department, into a flagship for regeneration, relies heavily on the installation of high quality, controllable and efficient air conditioning utilising the latest equipment from Toshiba installed by experienced Accredited Installer, Andrews Air Conditioning. |
| Previously the building relied on air conditioning provided by a fixed speed R22 refrigerant-based system. The latest Toshiba equipment, utilising R410A and inverter technology enables energy cost savings of up to £14000 to be made each year and provides a CO2 reduction of 24,000 kg for the building over a twelve month period. Additionally, the project qualified for the Government's Enhanced Capital Allowance scheme, which enables the owners of the building to offset up to 30% of the total project cost in year one, significantly improving both cash flow and profitability. |
| Brian Beetson, Toshiba's Area Manager, explains the context, "Most of the buildings on the surrounding industrial estate either have no air conditioning or old inefficient central plant installations. This office refurbishment programme, undertaken by New Age Properties is setting new standards for lettable, efficient, business accommodation in the area." |
| The re-clad shining glass and aluminium shell with its thick concrete core looks like something from Silicon Valley as it is glimpsed through the trees of a leafy campus. Andrews designed the project in conjunction with Toshiba, working to the specifications of the client and their consultant. The newly installed replacement air conditioning system is key to the comfort of the new tenants. |
| The floors have been laid out on an open plan basis with a typical floor area of 600 sq metres. The block has five and three storey elements. Eight Toshiba VRF SHRM2 three-pipe systems serve the building, one to a floor, so that each can be let individually. It is a ducted, heat recovery scheme to enable maximum layout and energy usage flexibility. |
| The building management system used is a Toshiba control system and is WindowsTM based with a package to cover each floor so that the landlord can provide individual floor control but retain overall control for billing purposes. |
| Beetson continues: "The air conditioning system that Andrews has installed can achieve a Co-efficient of Performance (COP) of 5 at 40% (typical) operating load requiring just a 20 Amp power supply because this inverter-controlled system has automatic soft start and operates at a lower synchronous speed than previous systems. Altogether the system is providing almost 700 kW of heating and cooling to this large building. In the past this might typically have been provided by water based central plant but today's high efficiency R410A VRF systems cope well with this challenge." |
| Within the project, ease of installation and project management to finite time frames was critical - this was assisted greatly by the use of the Toshiba equipment. Andrews carried out the modifications to the existing air handling system and undertook the essential site removal and disposal of the previous out-dated plant. The compact new systems were installed within the footprint of the existing plant village on the roof so there were no civil engineering or structural complications from increasing the overall cooling and heating capacity for the building. |
