Nationwide House, Swindon
| Project: | Nationwide House, Swindon |
|---|---|
| Overseeing Consultant: | Nationwide Building Society |
| Design Consultant: | Alan Logan, Building Management Technology |
| Mechanical Contractor | Nigel Paynes, T Clarkes |
Problem
An increase in staff at the Nationwide offices in Swindon meant a new, high efficiency, ceiling cooling system to meet the extra demands of providing a comfortable working environment.
A supply of water at 14ºC was required for as many as 225 passive chilled beams. The scale of the project necessitated careful consideration of all aspects of the system design concept and installation procedure.
It was important not to disrupt the office during normal working hours, so installation had to be carried out overnight.
Solution
As much equipment that could was pre-assembled off-site, including the manifolds, which were fitted at three metre intervals along the main supply pipe.
Instead of providing an individual supply to each beam, a number of beams were connected in series with each other and the manifolds were connected directly out of the mains. Rather than connecting the flow and return manifolds together, a standard three-way manifold was specified to allow the client to move or install new beams if and when required.
“The innovative design of the Marflow system meant we were able to save a lot of time by pre-fabricating the main header pipe-work,” says mechanical contractor Nigel Payne of T. Clarkes. “The use of flexible PEXAL piping contributed to the smooth installation and, overall, everyone involved was most happy with the result.”