KwikHEAT - Practical Facilities Management

interiorsCool comfort from MorganLovell’s green office interiorArefurbished sustainable officeinterior – carried out in a typical1960’s designed office block - has beennamed one of the ‘greenest’developments in the UK after reachingthe finals of the ‘Green Oscars’ - theSustainable City Awards. In addition,the refurbishment has also achieved aBREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating from theBRE.Carried out by office transformation experts MorganLovell, the renovation to their headquarters inLondon’s Soho has been recognised for delivering arealistic, cost effective and accessible solution tosustainability.Here Elaine Duke, the designer responsible for theoffice design, gives a brief insight into the projectand explains the key role heating, cooling andventilation played in the development.Blueprint for the Green FutureAs pioneers in the design and build of sustainableoffice interiors, when we decided to refurbish ourNoel Street headquarters, the challenge was tomake it a point of reference in the green debate.We wanted to show that it is possible to balance themoral obligation to provide a more sustainable officeinterior, with the constraints of a company budget.What is significant about the development is how ithas involved a ‘green’ refurbishment of a typical1960’s designed building - the type which up untilnow would have been considered an environmentalwrite-off. It demonstrates that older buildings can bemade green, without costing the earth.Many property and facilities managers we talk withare challenged with making their older propertiesgreen. This project proves that you don’t have tohave a new structure to reduce energy or to boostenvironmental credentials. We geared thedevelopment up to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’rating, which was a significant challenge becausethe building was designed in the 1960’s.Setting The Right TemperatureAt the heart of the development is one of the latest,most efficient heating and cooling solutions on themarket, zoned across the office floors, using a heatrecoverysystem to reduce energy consumption.This allows different areas of the office to beaccurately controlled, eradicating the wastefulpractice of heating and cooling a whole office to thesame temperature.The heating and comfort cooling solution utilises thelatest thinking to deliver a variable refrigerantvolume (VRV), three pipe, electric heat pumpinstallation.It works on the principle that heat energy absorbedfrom one place can be released in another place.An office space rarely needs heating or cooling tothe same level throughout. Areas near windowsmay be hotter or colder than those in the depth ofthe building, so to use energy to heat or cool thewhole area to the same level is inefficient.This system allows local cooling and heating to beprovided simultaneously in any area of a building.This is achieved using heating/cooling units in theceiling void, which are set to cooling or heating asdetermined by the local temperature. Air is thenblown over the units’ refrigerant coils to either heator cool the office space below as necessary.The true efficiency benefits come into effect duringspring and autumn when the outside temperaturesare constantly fluctuating. The absorbed heat fromone area of an office space that is being cooled canbe used for another area which needs heating,reducing the building’s overall electricityconsumption.The installation is zoned into individual rooms andoffice spaces which are temperature and timecontrolled, without being affected by adjoiningenvironments. This increases the installationefficiency by ensuring that energy is not wasted.A Breath of Fresh AirA great deal of consideration was also given to thefresh air ventilation and extraction solution, which isbased on a heat recovery ventilation system.Used air, when extracted from the office, warms oneside of a heat exchange plate. Fresh air brought infrom the outside is warmed on the other side of thesame plate. This saves energy by capturing heatthat ordinarily would be lost. The two sided platesystem also prevents cross contamination betweenfresh and non-fresh air.This installation is linked and time-controlled by theVRV heating and comfort cooling system, whichprovides the optimum in energy efficiency.This installation provides fresh air extraction to meetthe requirements of the new Part L and F BuildingRegulations.The End ResultThe fresh green thinking behind the Noel Streetproject saw it reach the finals in the City of LondonCorporation, Sustainable City Awards, in theSustainable Building category.Run in association with the Building ResearchEstablishment and The Worshipful Company ofChartered Surveyors, the category was open to allorganisations based in the UK, and recognisedsustainable design for new build and refurbishment.Despite achieving such high-profile success, theoffice interior itself looks remarkably normal, withgeneral day-to-day office life no different thannormal - and that’s what we always set out to do.The result is an inspiring modern office thatenergises staff, a place employees want to come to,and most importantly – reflects Morgan Lovell’ssustainability values.Looking at the refurbishment overall, the cost of thework was not much more than if we had undertakena more conventional route. In addition, we expect toreduce our energy bills by a third as a result, sothere will be a quick return on investment.All offices can make a difference to helping save theplanet, without having to commit to a massivefinancial outlay - and with minimal disruption orchange to the normal day-to-day operations of theworkplace. Ultimately, this refurbishment aims to putthat into practice.Find out more about the green office developmentand sustainable offices in general atwww.morganlovell.co.uk/sustainabilityReader Reply No: 111126