As in the past few years, CIBSE has reviewed last year’s awards entries to assess building performance across the projects, as well as the quality of the information provided.

In 2021, based on a review of all past entries, CIBSE introduced a data form to accompany the Project of the Year entries, to improve the consistency, quality and coverage of the building performance data provided.

This helps the judging process, and contributes to industry’s understanding of current best practice, in turn feeding into CIBSE activities such as the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (NZCBS).

Since then, entries have been reviewed every year, and updates made to the data forms to reflect evolving practice and improve clarity and data collection.

Quality of data

This year’s analysis confirms that the quality and scope of building performance data continues to increase. The award entries show fewer areas of data uncertainty, more consistent information, and wider coverage of building performance.

While a large proportion of buildings entered into the awards have onsite generation, the energy flows associated with the building and onsite systems are better reported than in previous years. This indicates better metering set-ups, as well as better monitoring and analysis.

SGA Consulting was crowned CIBSE Building Performance Champion for its retrofit of York Guildhall

In recent years, few entries had complete and reliable enough data to estimate the building’s energy use intensity (EUI) with reasonable confidence, but, importantly, this is now possible for the majority of entries.

What the data tell us

Last year’s data shows trends in delivery processes applied across the projects, similar to previous years. As expected, projects often used energy performance modelling (rather than just compliance modelling) – for example, Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) or CIBSE TM54 more generally. Many of them set energy performance targets beyond regulatory compliance, sometimes as contractual targets. They carried out post-occupancy evaluation, with attention to energy use as well as factors beyond it, such as indoor air quality, temperature monitoring, and interviews or surveys of occupants.

The new-build entries had lower energy use than the average building stock, sometimes significantly so; however, energy use was still higher than industry targets from the RIBA 2030 Challenge and LETI for the sectors where these targets are most established, such as homes, offices and schools.

In future years, the NZCBS, due for beta release later this year, will provide a further point of comparison, applicable across a wide range of sectors.

The majority of projects, and all the new-build ones, had onsite photovoltaics (PVs) – in some cases with significant export as well as self-use. The contribution of these PV systems varied significantly across projects, on average around 60-70kWh/m² per yr building footprint (ranging from 35 to 140), covering, on average, around 30% of the building’s annual energy use (ranging from 5% to 55%).

For comparison, in last year’s Technical Update Consultation, the NZCBS proposed an approximate target range of 80-120kWh/m² per yr for non-industrial buildings; this was only a draft and is being reviewed ahead of the beta release.

CIBSE looks forward to your entries, and wishes you all the best of luck!

To enter visit www.cibse.org/bpa

The post Building on performance: CIBSE awards analysis appeared first on CIBSE Journal.

Questions have been asked about whether the CIBSE office reflects the Institution’s vision, and whether it is a suitable building for employees to work in and for members to use.

To assess needs and understand how the building works for these needs, CIBSE commissioned a BUS survey, the methodology of which provides advanced insight into building use through assessing and tracking occupant wellbeing. The survey delivers both qualitative and quantitative results of the data, which is presented as a histogram on a sliding scale, marked against a percentile plot that shows how the building compares with the benchmark result for that question. An example of how the quantitative results are presented is shown right.

These benchmarks incorporate 1,300 responses worldwide, representing 80,000 individuals and more than 30 years of industry best practice. This allows us to look beyond a single point, such as the height of summer, to gain a truly reflective analysis of overall performance of the building in key areas, including: safety and accessibility; comfort and ambience; modern infrastructure; office layout; and image to visitors/membership.

The summary for each group consists of questions on sub-groups, such as noise, lighting heating, cooling, summer and winter conditions, and control of building services/building design.

The results

The BUS survey was completed in late 2023 with a 75% response rate, which is considered excellent.

The CIBSE Balham office’s summary index is in the bottom 10% of our data set when compared against the BUS 2023 UK non-domestic benchmark. Results show the building does not meet modern expectations for office space. There is a clear desire for updates in many areas, such as heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, decoration, furniture, fire safety, layout, and sustainability. See facing page for the key areas of concern and positive elements, and the implications of these findings for the future workspace.

The office’s dated appearance, lack of inspirational elements, and visible signs of wear contrast with employees’ expectations. They want an environment that motivates and inspires, which clearly shows a significant gap between the current state of the workspace and the ideal. The substandard results in many areas, alongside multiple safety concerns, highlight the pressing need for improvements to the office environment.

It’s important to understand why the survey was done: the results will influence the decision-making on what building we should be looking for and will help inform the design team on the building services design for the new premises.

The requirements of the building today are very different from three years ago as we embrace a more modern, hybrid working arrangement. This has fundamentally changed the use of office buildings; they now need quiet places for teams calls, more meeting rooms and breakout areas for collaboration. Yet, it was interesting to discover that employees still prefer a level of individual control on heating and lighting, for example, which directly impacts morale and productivity.

It is recommended to conduct the survey again after the move, to assess the impact. CIBSE is currently reviewing and appointing a design team to consider the design needs and how these can be incorporated.

In the future, the construction industry will need more genuine collaboration between designers and contractors. Within CIBSE, this can showcase how the different design elements should collaborate, from the client’s requirements to the design of how the new premises work for staff and membership. One of the key parts of this is ensuring that such as facility management are part of the process.

The post Greater expectations: surveying occupants at CIBSE HQ appeared first on CIBSE Journal.

Renowned for his work in retrofitting commercial heat pumps, Draper has made substantial reductions in carbon and costs in large commercial properties, using an innovative and lean engineering approach.

The award judges praised him for encouraging others to make the changes necessary for large buildings to decarbonise in a cost-effective way. ‘While we saw many great examples of leadership and development of teams, the winner stood out for his creativity and practical delivery of innovation,’ they said. ‘He clearly has a passion for the development and growth of engineering.’

British Land’s 350 Euston Road was the first large-scale heat pump retrofit in a commercial office building. The project was led by Draper who, in 2012, was working for British Land. ‘It was a really steep learning curve,’ he recalls.

British Land was on a mission to reduce its energy use by 40% by 2015. The seven-storey office building’s three gas-fired condensing boilers and two air cooled chillers were approaching the end of their life. Retrofitting heat pumps was the obvious solution, Draper says, because, like most commercial offices, this one required concurrent heating and cooling for a large part of the year.

Model geometry for dynamic heat pump analysis with surrounding built environment

‘If you have a building that needs heating and cooling simultaneously, why would you run a separate heating and cooling plant when you could run a 4-pipe heat pump unit to help improve the building’s energy performance and reduce its carbon footprint,’ he says.

A major challenge in replacing the gas-fired boilers with an air source heat pump (ASHP) is the lower temperature of the heating supply. At Euston Road, the boilers supplied fan coil units (FCUs) on the office floors with water at 70^oC. While heat pumps can now produce water at this temperature, at the time they did not. Instead, the heat pumps were designed to operate at a much more efficient system temperature of 45^oC; with the FCUs supplied with heat at this lower temperature.

The project uses a Climaveneta ASHP, which has three basic operating modes: chilled water only; hot water only; and simultaneous hot and chilled water production. ‘When simultaneous heating and cooling demand occurs, heat energy can be obtained almost for free,’ Draper says.

In 2014, ASHP technology was unable to deliver a sufficient quantity of high-grade heat to meet the heating demand when ambient temperatures were low. For the Euston Road project, when ambient drops below 5^oC the building’s gas boilers kick in to meet the heat demand.

The solution worked. ‘The additional expenditure to retrofit the air source heat pump achieved payback within a year and now saves occupiers £60,000 every year,’ Draper says. In addition, the switch to using an electric heat pump as the primary heat source, as opposed to gas boilers, is helping to reduce carbon emissions by 470 tonnes a year and improve local air quality.

Draper frequently works with Darren Coppins, of Built Physics

Ten years on and the installation is still delivering. ‘What this first project demonstrated quite successfully is the use of a heat pump as a means of recovering heat,’ Draper explains.

Having proven the methodology, Draper has continued to build on this experience and the lessons learned from that initial project, both as an employee of British Land and, subsequently, as managing director of his own consultancy, Twenty One Engineering. He says retrofitting heat pumps is more demanding than installing them in new-build projects. ‘With new-build applications, there is generally more space and it is much easier to design systems from the outset to operate at a lower system temperature of 45^oC/50^oC to maximise heat pump efficiency,’ Draper explains.

He says the challenges for heat pump retrofits include ‘restrictions on plant space using existing plantrooms, limitations on the electrical power available, and the need to provide sufficient heat to existing equipment sized to operate at a higher supply temperature’. In addition, heating demands in offices tend to be higher now than they would have been in a 1990s office, because heat outputs from computer monitors and lighting are less, and office densities are generally lower. On the plus side, with a retrofit you will have the benefit of detailed metering information from the building, ‘so there will be far fewer unknowns’, he says.

My journey from apprentice to CIBSE Engineer of the Year

Draper has gone from ‘worst apprentice’ to ‘true leader’

I started out on an engineering apprenticeship, as a tool maker for e2v. Unfortunately, I cannot stand still, so, at the age of 18, I was told I was the worst apprentice they’d ever had and I was moved to facilities, where I undertook an electrical apprenticeship.

The e2v factory manufactures semiconductors and specialised components for medical, space and industrial applications. It has Class 10 and Class 10,000 clean rooms, and 11 substations – all high-end stuff. Learning about building services on a complex scale changed my mindset and I progressed to factory service engineer.

I left e2v to work for metering company EP&T, as technical lead. Our first big win was for British Land, where I designed and installed the metering system for nine of its buildings. I subsequently drove the energy management process for each, based on the operating data.

In 2011, British Land asked me to join them as senior engineering manager of its Regent’s Place complex. With experience of operating a Class 10 cleanroom, it is easy to transfer these skills to operating commercial office buildings. For the next three years, I drove operations at Regent’s Place to make the multi-let campus one of the most efficient.

In 2012, I started work on retrofitting a heat pump to 350 Euston Road – the first large-scale heat pump retrofit in a commercial building. By 2014, I was in a more central role, advising on how more of British Land’s buildings could target net zero. I started to engage with CIBSE and the Better Building Performance Group.

I left British Land to work, briefly, for a company called Cavendish, before setting up my own company, Twenty One Engineering, to use my skills and experience to deliver turnkey solutions for clients. These included British Land, where I continue to be involved in heat pump retrofits.

I’m a big advocate for apprenticeships, because that’s the route I’ve taken. Until now, no winner of CIBSE Engineer of the Year had done a hands-on apprenticeship – I should not be the only one.

The CIBSE BPA Judges said: ‘While we saw many great examples of leadership and development of teams, the winner stood out for his creativity and practical delivery of innovation. He clearly has a passion for the development and growth of engineering. A true leader by example and a genuine practitioner of engineering leadership.’

To assess the viability of a heat pump retrofit, Draper often works with Darren Coppins, of Built Physics, to model the building and its systems. The model references the metered operational data to confirm its accuracy. When the metered energy data does not match that predicted by the model, the team must assess whether the problem is with the building or the model, says Coppins. He adds that it might be down to problems with the existing controls or excessive infiltration, or parts of the building may not be working as they were intended.

‘We can drill into that data to see if it is something that needs to be addressed with building maintenance or whether the model needs to be tweaked to factor in something I’ve not allowed for,’ Coppins says.

When all parties are happy with the accuracy of the model, it is used to assess the operation of the proposed heat pump retrofit.

For an effective heat pump installation, Draper believes designers have to start to think differently about a project. ‘The historical approach to heating and cooling design was focused on meeting peak loads, but the average temperature in the UK probably sits between 8^oC and 15^oC,’ he says.

A heat pump being craned into position

It’s a point on which Coppins picks up. ‘We’ve got very used to using gas, which can be turned on and off very easily, but a heat pump does not work like that,’ he says. ‘With heat pumps, if we size them for peak capacity their lowest turndown won’t be low enough for them to operate efficiently or, potentially, reliably.’

For this reason, Coppins says it is important to optimise the heat pump for how it will run for the majority of the time: ‘We can predict that through building physics; rather than saying this building has a peak load of 3MW, for most of the time its load might actually only be half of that peak.’ He says a smaller-sized 4-pipe heat pump – ‘with a bit of top-up’ from an additional reversible heat pump – can be used to boost the heating and cooling outputs as required, and can provide a more reliable installation.

The downside of this type of solution is that the plant has to be hydraulically separated. For his latest project, however, Draper worked with Coppins to develop a conceptual retrofit design without the need for additional kit. ‘The system has been designed to work efficiently at 50^oC, but – to meet peak demand – we’re planning to boost the heat pump system temperature from 50^oC to 70^oC,’ he says.

Innovative solutions such as this are feasible because Draper is keen to involve manufacturers. ‘Before we finalise our design, we will get the manufacturers in to have a conversation, because not every heat pump is the same and not every application is the same,’ he explains.

Inside a 4-pipe simultaneous heat pump

Another reason the team at Twenty One Engineering is able to develop innovative solutions, Draper believes, is ‘the open relationship we have with British Land as the customer and with Built Physics’.

In the 10 years since Draper became involved in retrofit heat pump installations, he says the biggest technological advance has been with refrigerant gases, because these allow higher circuit temperatures.

‘At Euston Road, we could achieve a circuit temperature of 50^oC at an outside air temperature of 5^oC. When the outside temperature dropped to 0^oC, the system only achieved a temperature in the low-40s – while, at -5^oC, you would struggle to get up to 40^oC,’ he says.

‘Now, with different refrigerant gases, heat pumps can give us a system temperature of 55^oC at -5^oC ambient.’

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It served as the city’s seat of governance for more than 600 years, but when York City Council relocated, it wanted to refurbish the historic complex and turn it into a digital hub for the 21st century.

Together, architect Burrell Foley Fischer and SGA Consulting set out to deliver the council’s vision.

The interior of the 15th- century York Guildhall

Alongside the creation of the digital hub, the project involved the refurbishment of the listed elements of the scheme to improve accessibility, occupant comfort and energy efficiency. It also included a new office extension and riverfront restaurant at the side of the complex.

The scheme’s numerous listed elements made for an extremely challenging refurbishment. Except for the listed cast iron radiators in the Victorian council chamber, all of the existing building services had to be replaced, as they were long past their prime. ‘We started by asking what interventions we could make to the listed buildings and then set about working out how to deliver these in the best possible way,’ says Bart Stevens, a director of SGA Consulting.

some materials were transported by river

The building’s location, adjacent to the River Ouse, made a river source heat pump (RSHP) the obvious solution to heat and cool the building. ‘The first time I went to the site, I took one look at the river and said “of course we’ve got to use this”,’ recalls Stevens.

Permission to use the river was obtained from the Environment Agency and the Canal & River Trust, and an unobtrusive route for the abstraction and discharge pipework was devised from the basement plantroom to the river.

Under the new scheme, 110kW of simultaneous heating and cooling is provided by a two-circuit, reverse-cycle RSHP. To optimise its efficiency, the heating circuit runs at 50^oC flow/45^oC return, while cooling is at 6^oC flow/12^oC return. The RSHP is also designed to recover heat if areas of the building require simultaneous heating and cooling.

Pipes taking water from the Ouse to the river source heat pump

A pragmatic fabric-first approach was adopted by SGA Consulting in developing the servicing strategy. Using the heat pump to service the new office extension and restaurant was relatively straightforward, because its fabric thermal performance exceeded Building Regulations minimum. However, the listed status of many existing elements and spaces meant opportunities to improve fabric thermal performance were limited. This had a major impact on how and where the heat pump-derived heat could be used.

The office extension and riverfront restaurant

The lower temperature of the heat pump heating circuit made it ideal as a heat source for underfloor heating, because the large floor area helps compensate for the lower temperature of the emitter. The heat pump is also used to supply heat to fan coil units (FCUs) in some of the office spaces. These incorporate oversized heating coils to compensate for the circuit’s lower flow temperatures.

Operating in reverse mode, the heat pump uses river water, extracted at up to 22^oC and returned at 25^oC, to also provide chilled water to the FCUs in south-facing river frontage rooms. ‘These rooms required cooling as well as heating, so we were justified in replacing the existing radiators with modern FCUs in these rooms,’ explains Stevens. 

Reinstating Victorian natural ventilation

SGA Consulting has resurrected the original Victorian ventilation system to help alleviate stuffiness and overheating in the Grade II*-listed council chamber.

The original building services proposal incorporated a series of FCUs to keep the council chamber comfortable. The units were to be placed outside the chamber and holes knocked through the wall to enable the units to circulate air. Historic England was not keen on the modifications, so an alternative solution had to be devised.

‘I said “I bet the Victorians had a way of ventilating the room”,’ recalls SGA Consulting’s Stevens. Low-level ventilation inlets had been identified in the external walls, hidden behind the cast iron radiators which also provide preheating to air entering the chamber. ‘After hunting around, we managed to find some holes in the ceiling, concealed behind rose-shaped bosses, which allowed the warmed air to exit the chamber and enter the roof space,’ says Stevens. In the roof, the ventilation system was originally linked into the flues from the coal-fired boilers using wooden ductwork . The system exploited the pressure differential caused by the upward flow of air from the boiler flues to induce airflow through the council chamber.

The original council chamber ventilation system

SGA Consulting set out to reinstate the original ventilation system, to enhance the airflow without any discernible visual impact in the council chamber. The coal-fired boilers are long gone, but the system still uses the original boiler flue. Because of fire regulations, the Venturi effect from the boiler flue had to be abandoned, so the airflow is now enhanced through the addition of a small axial flow fan.

To further control airflow in the council chamber, motorised dampers (controlled on CO₂ and temperature) have been added to the low-level intakes behind the radiators. Should they so wish, councillors also have the option of opening windows.

SGA Consulting has also managed to hide four cooling-only FCUs beneath raised daises in the council chamber. This helps keep the space comfortable when the council is in session and the room is full of people. The consultant has also resurrected the original Victorian ventilation system in the chamber to further improve comfort.

A major benefit of using a RSHP to provide cooling was that it removed the need for an external air cooled condenser, which would have been noisy and visually obtrusive in this overlooked, congested and historic part of York.

The RSHP is housed on a plinth in the potentially flood-susceptible basement plantroom.

Alongside the electric RSHP, the scheme also includes three new gas-fired boilers. These supply a conventional low-pressure hot water heating circuit at 80^oC flow/70^oC return to furnish the cast iron radiator circuit in the Victorian parts of the building, along with two domestic hot water calorifiers that serve the new kitchen and toilet blocks. The boilers also provide back-up heat to the heat pump circuit, should the heat pump fail.

‘We used the heat pump in all of the spaces where we could make it work, but the heat losses are so great in the Victorian areas, and the floor areas fixed, so we had to reuse existing cast iron radiators and gas boilers to provide sufficient heat,’ explains Stevens.

The new extension to York Guildhall

Heat losses in the 15th-century Guildhall were also particularly high. The building’s Grade I listing meant that it was too difficult to enhance the thermal performance of the solid stone walls and there were insufficient funds to add secondary glazing to the windows. The team was, however, able to hide additional insulation in the roof as part of the lead-replacement works.

Bomb damage during World War II meant that the roof, floor, and some upper walls of the Guildhall had either been rebuilt or replaced, so English Heritage permitted underfloor heating to be installed in the 7m-high space. Even so, heat losses were so great that the heat pump-supplied underfloor heat system alone was insufficient to keep the space comfortable. ‘The heat losses were too high and we were very limited as to the interventions we could make,’ says Stevens.

Boilers are used on very cold days because of high heat losses in the historic buildings

SGA Consulting’s solution was to supplement the underfloor heating with trench heaters concealed within the floor and connected to the higher-temperature gas-fired boiler circuit, for use on cold winter days.

‘When the outside temperature drops below 5^oC, the trench heaters turn on,’ Stevens explains. As a consequence, trench heating will only deliver 12% of the Guildhall’s annual heating demand, with the rest provided by the heat pump circuit. ‘This type of mixed use shows how heat pumps can be used to provide heating to old buildings where the rate of heat loss would be too high otherwise,’ says Stevens.

After the scheme’s completion in 2022, SGA Consulting followed a soft landings regime for two years, to optimise performance of the building services. Lessons learned include:

• Keeping the Guildhall underfloor heating off on cool summer days because of the long time lag in delivering heat
• Turning off the heat to the domestic hot-water systems over weekends when appropriate
• Reminding the client of the two-speed control for kitchen ventilation.

The strategy to re-use a centuries-old building, revitalising it for use for future generations, achieved significant savings on embodied carbon emissions. Equally importantly, the project succeeded in securing the future of the Guildhall complex; the University of York is taking a long-term lease on the historic buildings to create a business hub for spin-off firms from the university. This will contribute to the city’s future and is proof that historic buildings can be refurbished and remodelled to meet contemporary needs.

SGA Consulting’s approach to the project certainly impressed the judges at this year’s CIBSE Building Performance Awards, where the project won a host of awards, including Building Performance Champion.

The judges said of the scheme: ‘With the challenges we face in renovating millions of existing buildings, the York Guildhall project shows what can be achieved to deliver sustainable building refurbishment, minimise embodied carbon and deliver such a project with the most difficult site-access conditions’. 

The post Bridging the gap: the 2024 CIBSE Building Performance Champion appeared first on CIBSE Journal.

The project took place over winter 2022-23, and aimed to gather lessons on retrofit and building performance techniques, which have moved on considerably in 10 years.

Its report looks at how robust, meaningful and useful data are collected in an affordable and accessible manner, and is intended to give occupants, designers and decision-makers a good understanding of BPE.

Analysis of the homes aimed to find out what had stood the test of time, and what lessons there were to learn. The team was particularly interested in moisture, insulation options (moisture and combustibility), and the degradation of original solutions (for example, fabric condition and airtightness).

All 10 sample homes were considered best practice or exemplar at the time, and employed a whole-house ‘deep’ retrofit approach. Six were part of the 2009-13 Retrofit for the Future programme.

Six of the properties dated from pre-1919, nine were houses (one a flat), and they were a mix of housing association and privately owned properties.

Their insulation strategies varied, with a mix of external, internal and cavity insulation, and permeable and impermeable materials. Heating, hot water and ventilation systems were also varied.

A two-tiered BPE approach – core and detailed scope – was followed for the project.

The results:

Energy performance
In most of the homes, no major change has been observed in energy performance compared with the original retrofit energy use. The retrofit has delivered long-term benefits, with energy use still significantly lower than in the average stock.

Tellingly, most homes have reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their energy bills. Where space-heating demand could be estimated, it is in line with best practice retrofit standards, significantly below the national average.

The energy use intensity (EUI) is, on average, ~80kWh·m^-2 GIA per yr, which is very favourable compared with UK data (see table, opposite).

Fabric
Fabric efficiency improvements have been shown to be very effective in the long run, with air leakage and heat demand remaining very low compared with the national average. The good level of performance is indicated by the average for the homes of 2.54m³·h^-1.m^-2 @ 50Pa (up from an average of 1.98 ~10 years ago). Airtightness in all homes is still significantly better than pre-retrofit (77% better as pre-retrofits achieved ~11m³/h.m²@50Pa).

The most common weak point reported by the projects was the lesser reliability of external window and door seals after 10 years of use, in particular on large-format elements, such as doors. Airtightness tapes seem to have held overall, as the drop in performance in some houses is minimal. Only a very few instances have been found of material deterioration, and, in most cases, this has been very localised.

Moisture and mould risks were generally low, with good relative humidity (RH) levels in eight out of nine homes measured, and low or very low Build Test Solutions (BTS) Mould Risk score in seven out of nine homes. The study also recorded generally good CO₂ levels in seven out of nine homes.

A focus on ventilation and maintenance emerged as crucial for long-term success. The findings also reiterated the importance of maintenance. Common issues include clearing gutters and downpipes, and windows and door maintenance.

Systems
The report found that complex systems were more likely to fail. MVHR has been shown to be reliable in these case studies. This was not necessarily expected, as these systems were still quite innovative at the time. Ease of controls remains an issue, even in homes where residents report good comfort and relatively simple systems. There are issues with the metering of solar thermal.

Low carbon strategies since Retrofit for the Future have evolved greatly, in parallel with Grid decarbonisation. Eight out of the 10 homes have a gas boiler, and only one a heat pump. The more common approach now would be for an all-electric system (typically, heat pump) and PVs, rather than solar thermal.

Overall, feedback is very positive, with the sample homes showing results significantly better than the Soap Retrofit benchmark. Comfort has been delivered in all houses and winter comfort is rated very highly in the majority of homes; summer comfort is less so, but no worse than the benchmark. Temperature, RH, and CO₂ are within recommended ranges for most homes.

Evaluation techniques
The common methodology was useful to check and agree an approach and bring consistency, with input from all and an Excel sheet for basic energy reporting. The core and detailed BPE methods proved complementary, and the detailed techniques brought useful additional findings. All homes used the same indoor environmental quality sensors. This helped with consistency of data, allowed the use of the BTS platform for many tests, and supported the evaluators for training and queries.

Challenges
There was a small window to monitor homes over winter, after funding was confirmed in January. More preparation time would have been valuable. Despite initial enquiries with the residents and housing associations about their willingness to engage and the availability of energy data, this proved a challenge in a small number of homes once the study began.

More developed templates would have made reviewing and cross-project data collation and reporting quicker and more consistent, and detailed aspects of the methodology could have been modified or made more explicit. 

A researcher’s perspective

Marion Baeli, was co-leader of the project with CIBSE’s head of net zero policy, Julie Godefroy

Many CIBSE members aren’t engaged in domestic retrofit, says project co-leader Marion Baeli, who was partner at Studio PDP until January and is now principal, sustainability transformation, at 10 Design.

She hopes that the information garnered in the study could be useful for the industry in advising retrofit projects. ‘It’s crucial to conduct the right tests at the starting point, employ appropriate methods, understand the caveats, and ensure a good maintenance plan,’ she says.

Baeli advises that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to a retrofit: ‘When you’re starting a project, a retrofit coordinator may be useful in creating a detailed plan, or there are training courses, such as the PAS2035 course, that can be valuable.’

She says that some of her clients are clued up and see the risk of being exposed to high carbon assets. ‘Some clients have approached me to help them address the high carbon intensity of their entire portfolio and identify the best strategy for effective decarbonisation.

‘The aim being to assist them in reducing the risk of their assets becoming stranded. Our guidance focuses on decreasing energy demand initially, followed by transitioning to electricity and renewable energy sources,’ says Baeli.

One major change 10 years on is the profusion of heat pumps. ‘We didn’t know then that there was an alternative to gas boilers’ says Baeli. ‘The main issue at the time was to reduce CO₂. Now the target would be to reduce demand sufficiently to enable you to use an air source heat pump.’

The Retrofit Revisit report emphasises the efficacy of retrofit. ‘We want to give people the confidence that it does work and show that it is a good investment,’ says Baeli. ‘Yes, it’s disruptive, but you only have to do it once for the lifetime of the property and, if you take care of it, it will continue to perform.’ 

The post Revisiting retrofits 10 years on: key lessons for the future of retrofit appeared first on CIBSE Journal.

For this interview, which marks his retirement from CIBSE, Hywel was clear he wanted to focus on issues facing engineers in the months and years ahead.

The main concern for engineers, he says, must be with meeting the requirements of the Building Safety Act. He calls it the biggest upheaval facing the construction industry since World War II and has spent much of the past six months explaining to audiences the magnitude of the changes.

Anyone familiar with Hywel’s public speaking will know he is a great orator. He has a skill for communicating the most complex information in a clear and engaging manner, and does so with warmth and wit.   

Having spoken extensively, Hywel is concerned that the industry doesn’t understand the significance of the changes. ‘What worries me is that people think the Building Safety Act is a response to Grenfell and a fire in a block of flats. It isn’t – it’s a wholesale reform of the Building Regulation regime for all buildings, from a studio shed to The Shard,’ he says.

Some sectors are having to come to terms with the safety regime change sooner than others. Last month, the chief executive of Local Authority Building Control, Lorna Stimpson, wrote to the Building Safety Regulator warning that councils would stop providing services unless a deadline for building control officers to prove competence was extended. She said that ‘a significant number of building control professionals will not achieve successful certification and, therefore, registration before the 6 April deadline’. In response, the Health and Safety Executive extended the deadline for passing the assessment by 13 weeks, to 6 July. 

Hywel has sympathy with local authority building control, but feels they were forewarned. ‘I know the public sector is under pressure, but given all that’s happened over Grenfell, and the length of time the public sector has been on notice that things are going to change, I can’t avoid feeling frustrated it got to this point,’ he says.

Another area of irritation is the delay in government response to recommendations in the Independent Review of the Construction Product Testing Regime. However, Hywel says professionals can’t sit and wait for government to devise a new regime. ‘There’s a lot industry can do to take ownership’ he says. ‘Competent engineers shouldn’t be asking civil servants to tell them what to do. People have to demonstrate that they have exercised reasonable skill and care.’

One area of building safety in which there does appear to be engagement is the registering of higher-risk buildings (HRBs), which had to be done by 6 October. Almost 14,000 buildings have been registered – 2,000 more than expected.

Hywel says his Christianity guides his working life

‘It suggests that people out there managing these buildings are paying a bit more attention,’ Hywel says. ‘It’s better than saying “I’m not sure it’s an HRB. I’ll wing it until somebody turns up with a summons”.’

After registering, HRB owners have six months to compile a safety case report that identifies risks to their buildings. People have to look at their building and think ‘what could possibly go wrong’, says Hywel.

As chair of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee, he helped set out the new safety regime, and will continue to be prominent as a member of the Building Advisory Committee, which is responsible for keeping the Building Safety Regulator abreast of emerging issues in the sector.

He was also recently part of the working group that created the guidance on damp and mould for rented housing providers, which followed the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak as a result of mould in his home.

In addition, Hywel is working for the Construction Industry Council, which brings together professional bodies to speak with one voice. He feels his consensual approach may be the reason his advice is sought. ‘I appear to have this quite unusual status,’ he says. ‘I’m widely respected, trusted for keeping my mouth firmly shut, and apparently have some ability to broker a degree of understanding and consensus between different parties.’

His retirement event was held at St Andrew Undershaft church in the City of London, where Hywel, who has a wife Jackie and three children, has worshipped for 20 years. His faith is an important influence on his attitude to work. ‘Whatever you do, do it with all your strength, as to the Lord. That’s all I try to do in my life,’ he says. ‘If I’ve made a difference, it’s not because I’ve set out to do that, it’s because I’ve tried to do things well.’

The post Making the world a safer place: Hywel Davies retires from CIBSE appeared first on CIBSE Journal.

In his Presidential address, he said engineers needed to ‘step forward with solutions and commit to taking a lead’ and announced a new science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) initiative that would involve CIBSE teaming up with STEM Learning to match engineers with schools and colleges. 

Catchpole set a target for CIBSE regions to attract 10 STEM Ambassadors during his 12-month presidency. Last month, he met three young engineers who have responded to his call – Silviu Sidovici, Natalie Collcutt and Ikechukwu Umeokoli – and spoke to them about their experiences.

Adrian Catchpole is director of Johns Slater and Haward and CIBSE President

Adrian Catchpole (AC): What attracted you to become a STEM representative?

Ikechukwu Umeokoli (IU): I wanted to help younger people. I worked as an online maths tutor and was delighted to see someone gain a deeper understanding after sharing knowledge with them. Often, young people don’t know what is involved with being an engineer. There is a knowledge gap there that STEM Ambassadors can fill to give them a sense of purpose and stronger drive.

Natalie Collcutt (NC): I signed up to encourage more women to get involved in engineering. I went to an all-girls school and, apart from engineering evening events, there was nothing that would make me consider construction or engineering. The attitude was always ‘oh why don’t you do drama?’. Engineering covers such a wide range and I didn’t understand that until I did my engineering A Level. I also volunteer with SheCanEngineer, which is linked to STEM Learning. 

Silviu Sidovici (SS): I was inspired by one of Adrian’s speeches last year. I heard him say that 300,000 people are required to deliver net zero carbon, which is astonishing. Being a STEM Ambassador ties up with my long-term objective to teach. I would love to go into schools, and deliver lectures at university, to talk about engineering. I have a mechanical basis, so I really enjoy explaining the principles and I’m very passionate about sustainability. 

Natalie Collcutt is a senior buildings services engineer at Watkins Payne

AC: What STEM activities have you taken part in so far?

IU: I have attended a careers fair, where I gave advice and speed-networked with students. I had a huge number of students asking me about engineering. I broke down what I did in an easy-to-understand way. I don’t want to overcomplicate anything and I emphasised the fundamentals.

NC: I attended a careers fair where there were 100 people exhibiting, and I was with other engineers. It was really interesting talking to students and I found parents also asked how their children could get into the industry. There were a couple of children interested and they said they would apply for work experience when the time came. 

SS: I attended Skills London at ExCeL alongside a company called Quantum Learning. We had a working air source heat pump installation, and students were engaged and very curious to see how it worked. I also went to an engineering day at Bexley Grammar School, where there was a competition to design a research station in Antarctica. I presented the prize for the best design, and I really enjoyed the experience.

Ikechukwu Umeokoli is a graduate mechanical engineer at AtkinsRéalis

AC: What presentations have you got planned for the future?

NC: I’m going to do six presentations at school in one day for Years 4 and 5 in Key Stage 2. I will use the CIBSE Stem Learning portal for a presentation template and will put my own spin on it. I find presentations easier than those asking for a practical activity. I’ll take along a hi-vis, hard hat, and maybe a schematic and some attractive pictures of our projects. 

AC: A practical demonstration for building service engineers would be using a computer. This is very attractive to young people because we can show off 3D modelling and daylight-based simulation. Our industry has got sexy. On top of all of that, the world now knows about net zero and how engineers are playing a part in achieving it. Together, that’s quite a pull for youngsters that we have not had before.

SS: On my previous job, we had virtual reality glasses that allow you to explore building services models generated from Revit. That would be interesting to young people. 

Silviu Sidovici is a senior mechanical engineer at Buro Happold

AC: What would you say to anyone thinking of becoming a STEM Ambassador?

SS: Being a STEM Ambassador is rewarding. I enjoy explaining engineering to people and I’m an advocate for saving the planet – and we’re definitely in a crisis. I want to communicate that to people. I’m taken very seriously at Buro Happold and am supported by the directors, who regard my time spent on STEM as business development. It is an opportunity to promote the company and, in practical terms, it improves my presentation skills. 

NC: I have convinced one electrical engineer to become a STEM Ambassador. I told them it’s an opportunity to find people at schools who maybe, one day, they’ll be able to train. Most engineers like talking about engineering, so it’s not hard to convince them. Part of it is letting them know they only have to do one activity a year. Most companies give you a day or two to volunteer.

Catchpole says another benefit of volunteering as a STEM Ambassador is that it counts towards your CPD hours, and he believes it is the right call to ask for a doubling of CIBSE’s STEM ambassadors. 

‘We are well on the way to doing that, but it’s only a small step in the overall journey,’ he adds. ‘I challenge you to become STEM champions and persuade others to join the initiative. It’s a fairly low commitment and you only need to do one activity a year. There are 22,000 CIBSE Members – if each did one activity a year, we would smash through the 1,000 activities-a-year barrier.’ 

• If you wish to become a STEM Ambassador, visit the CIBSE website at bit.ly/CBSESTEM

The post Leading the charge: CIBSE’s STEM ambassadors appeared first on CIBSE Journal.

The objective was to provide general design optimisation advice from early stages, with a focus on façade and window optimisation, and to conduct feasibility studies and energy strategy optioneering. The project’s scope included support for various modelling studies, such as thermal comfort, daylight and compliance modelling. Additionally, detailed TM54 (operational energy) modelling concluded with a formal Nabers Design for Performance (DfP) assessment that awarded the building a 5.5-star rating (out of 6), one of the few in the UK.

The selection of the modelling tools was made to provide robust feedback within a demanding timeframe. The tools were used for early fabric and operational performance analysis, complex scenario modelling, interoperability, parametrisation for ease of scenario testing and a single modelling platform for the Stage 3-4 analysis (coordinated technical design and final specification.)

The tools selection included:

• ‘SketchUp, designPH and PHPP for Stage 2 feasibility studies
• ‘Rhino, Grasshopper, Honeybee for Stage 3 daylight analysis
• ‘EDSL Tas for Stage 3-4 detailed loads, comfort and energy modelling.

Early Stage 2 included modelling with SketchUp, using the plugin designPH that simplifies the entering of data into Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) to understand energy demands, test the feasibility of different options and set projectspecific targets. The combination of tools allowed for a quick feedback loop, where different fabric specifications were tested to see their impact on heating and cooling demands. Ventilation options were also tested, including a fully mechanical option and two scenarios with a mixed-mode approach, which showed that significant reductions on cooling and ventilation demands could be achieved.

To evaluate the impact of these options on project targets, an early-stage TM54 model was built in PHPP, with internal gains aligned with Nabers DfP and the available design input at the time. The study indicated that implementing mixed-mode ventilation could elevate the performance from one UKGBC Net Zero bracket to another, prompting the decision to integrate it into the detailed design. The key findings and results at this stage played a pivotal role in guiding the client’s decision to pursue an official Nabers rating.

Ease of geometry manipulation in SketchUp allowed for quick updates in the model’s form in Stage 3, which was then transferred to Rhino, where it was progressed further to carry out a daylight study using Grasshopper (thermal and parametric modelling in Rhino) and Honeybee (building performance simulation in Grasshopper). This model allowed for quick tests on materialities (material selection for specific aesthetic and functional effects) and glazing lighting performance. The results were not only used to inform the Breeam certification, but also to gain insights into the daylight control conditions in the perimeter zones defined by reviewing the resulting illuminance levels.

Throughout Stages 3 and 4, EDSL Tas building modelling and simulation software was used to carry out modelling tasks that informed the design further, such as load calculations, Part L compliance, and thermal comfort, and to reinforce the overall design by verifying performance. In Stage 3, Tas was also used to build a preliminary TM54 model that informed the potential Nabers rating. In Stage 4, more detail was incorporated into the model, including actual ventilation rates, size, performance and operation of each individual DX-coil unit, demand-control ventilation details, sizes of selected plant and productspecific parameters, such as temperature correction factors and part-load ratios, to inform the seasonal efficiencies of cooling and heating plant.

In addition, the proposed BMS weather prediction component was introduced to regulate window operation, AHU and DX-coil units. This was achieved by generating schedules of open/closed-window days through an analysis of simulation weather files and defined operating conditions, including indoor temperature thresholds, outdoor temperature limits, wind speed, and CO2 levels.

For the DfP assessment, to guide the design process while safeguarding performance, certain risk scenarios were modelled, including one where mixed-mode ventilation was not used. This scenario validated the conclusions drawn from the Stage 2 feasibility study, demonstrating how a mixed-mode approach can significantly reduce the operational energy demands of the building.

After concluding their involvement, the design included: a high performing envelope with fixed shading elements in key locations; highly efficient all-electric air conditioning; mixed-mode ventilation; full LED lighting with daylight control; maximised PV installation; and submetering of all floors and plant equipment.

This highlights the value of an integrated modelling workflow, as it allows early feedback, thereby shaping the decision-making process, and driving the design process from initial stages to completion.

■ Alexandros Chalkias MCIBSE is director – Sustainable Design, Savills Earth and CIBSE Building Simulation Group events secretary

The annual Building Simulation Awards are organised by the CIBSE Building Simulation Group. www.cibse.org/get-involved/ special-interest-groups/ building-simulation-group

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When it won the Building Performance Consultancy of the Year (up to 50 employees) at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2023, the judges said the consultancy was a good example of a ‘developing practice’, adding that they were impressed by the entrant’s ‘incredible’ focus on net zero carbon and by its demonstration of diversity, inclusion and equality.

‘Our USP has always been a focus on cutting carbon; the clue’s in our name – we’re all about crossing out [X] CO₂,’ says Tom Kordel, a director of the practice and one of its co-founders. ‘While cutting carbon is not new now, 15 years ago it was novel to have a business whose sole focus was to reduce carbon emissions within the built environment,’

From inception, the practice was set up to provide environmental consultancy and MEP design. That is still the case now, Kordel says, although, over time, it has added more strings to the environmental side of the business, such as daylight consultancy and overheating assessments, to provide ‘a more holistic service’. 

Similarly, its MEP services now include energy audits and post-occupancy evaluations, services that Kordel says help its engineers gain an insight into how buildings operate in reality. ‘Without understanding how a building works in operation, engineering designs will never improve,’ he adds.

It is the business’s focus on cutting emissions and on environmental issues that has made it attractive to engineers and consultants with a passion for environmental building design and low carbon engineering. 

Their skills give the practice the ability to look at buildings holistically, which means influencing the architecture to exploit passive design and making designs intuitive to use and operate. ‘If you’re going to focus on driving down energy use and CO₂ emissions, I think the best designed buildings are often the ones with the least amount of building services and that are simplest for people to use,’ says Kordel.

Many of those attracted to work for the practice are women; almost half of its current workforce is female, making XCO2 unusual among engineering consultancies, where, on average, women make up only 14.5% of the staff. ‘We want the background of our team to reflect the society in which we operate, so that balance is important, as is a balance between technical disciplines,’ says Kordel. 

XCO2’s attraction as an employer is no doubt helped by a progressive approach to enabling its employees to achieve a healthy work/life balance. They have the option of working from home three days a week, but, more radically, staff work a nine-day fortnight, with alternate Fridays off. 

Kordel says the policy of working fewer hours was introduced pre-pandemic, initially as a trial to ascertain its impact on business efficiency – but the scheme proved so popular that it has been retained. ‘It gives people the opportunity to do their life admin without having to use their weekend, which has helped a lot in terms of staff retention,’ says Kordel.

Perhaps less unusual in a sector struggling to attract talented engineering students, the business is also culturally diverse, with many of its overseas employees recruited to the business from university Master’s courses. ‘We have always looked to have a diverse workforce in terms of gender and ethnicity, because it brings a lot of ideas and creates a friendly, open, innovative culture within the business – and it does help to win work, because the businesses we work with tend to be culturally very diverse,’ Kordel explains.

The new solar installation at the back-of-house facilities at the Soneva Jani luxury eco resort in the Maldives

Two of the key business sectors in which XCO2 is particularly strong are social housing and luxury resort hotels. On the face of it, these businesses – catering for the opposite ends of the wealth spectrum – would appear to have little in common, but, according to Kordel, both have a vested interest in low energy operation and low CO₂ emissions. 

‘Social housing is very focused on eliminating fuel poverty, so having low energy and efficient buildings is really, really important, while luxury hotel developers and operators tend to keep assets for a long time, so they too have a vested interest in keeping energy use low,’ he explains.

The creation of more affordable housing ‘chimes with what we want to do as a business’, adds Kordel. However, it was the company’s hotel work in Southeast Asia that led to it opening an office in Singapore in 2016. ‘We have a strong reputation with hotel operators in the area, and we felt that being closer to architects and developers based in Hong Kong and Singapore was really important,’ he recalls.

The completed Jazz Yard project for Sixty Bricks, which delivers 83 new homes (50% of which are affordable) and a new NHS health centre in Waltham Forest

Many of the hotels and resorts that XCO2 work on in the region tend to be located on remote islands, without access to an electrical grid or mains water, so its net zero design is a practical necessity rather than a nice-to-have solution. ‘To have a holistically sustainable development, circularity around water, waste and energy is important, as is solar energy generation,’ Kordel explains.

XCO2 is also involved in charitable work in the region, including with the Hemis Monastic School in Northern India. Here, it is working pro bono on the design of a new school for Buddhist monks, located next to a 17th-century Buddhist monastery. The scheme is designed to use predominantly passive means to achieve thermal comfort in a cold, high-altitude desert with annual temperature swings of 60^oC.

Site photo from Hemis Monastic School, a new residential school for 500 trainee monks in Northern Ladakh , 13,000ft up in the Himalayas

Key to the success of the school’s challenging design is dynamic thermal modelling. This has been used from the earliest design stages to test and fine-tune a variety of measures – such as Trombe walls – to improve the building’s performance. Computational fluid dynamics have also been used to design and size the building’s solar latrines, which feature dark-painted solar chimneys to passively ventilate the toilets.

The use of digital tools and digital innovation are seen as potential growth areas for the business – an opportunity that has led to the company setting up the XCO2 Lab, to help it identify problems and time-intensive processes ripe for automation. The lab is intended to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and is led by Aidan Kelly, technical lead for the CIBSE Society of Digital Engineering steering group and contributor to CIBSE Journal.

The Soneva Jani luxury eco resort in the Maldives

In addition to contributing articles for publication, XCO2 shares knowledge by making time for its engineers to get involved with industry initiatives such as LETI and, more recently, the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. So what’s next for the developing practice? 

‘Now that we’re post-pandemic, we want to push towards growing the business, our client base, and the scale of projects we work on,’ says Kordel. 

‘Alongside the interesting, much smaller, more bespoke projects that we enjoy doing, we’re now working on schemes with thousands of homes where we can have an even bigger impact.’

The post The X Factor: XCO2’s holistic approach to environmental consultancy appeared first on CIBSE Journal.

The judges said the entries not only showcase a breadth of innovation, but also reveal a keen understanding of the importance of application flexibility while adhering to stringent regulatory standards. They were impressed by the calibre of the shortlist, saying ‘the range of innovations demonstrates that the product doesn’t have to be epic to be influential and beneficial’.

The CIBSE Building Performance Awards will take place on 29 February 2024 at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel in London. To book your place visit bit.ly/CIBSEbpa24.

Stiebel Eltron UK: VLR 70 L Trend

Stiebel Eltron UK introduced its VLR 70 L Trend, a decentralised ventilation unit, in response to the need for landlords and property owners to implement measures to deliver good air quality in social housing and commercial properties. This fully automated unit improves indoor air quality, reduces moisture, and recovers up to 92% of heat, in spaces up to 100m2.

Installed in pairs – either in one or adjoining rooms with good airflow between them – one unit will extract while the other brings in fresh air. The units switch several times a minute between each other to allow the heat exchanger to capture energy from the outbound air, which is then picked up by the incoming air. The unit incorporates smart sensors to account for occupancy, humidity and air quality. With a comprehensive filter system, including F7 filters, the VLR 70 L reduces pollutants, allergens and virus particles.

Vent-Axia: Sentinel Apex

Vent-Axia’s Sentinel Apex commercial heat recovery unit provides fresh, filtered air, combating indoor air pollution and removing pollutants such as moisture and CO2. With up to 93% energy recovery, the unit efficiently uses waste heat, achieving a market-leading 93% thermal efficiency (EN308 tested). Key features include an automatic summer bypass, motor efficiency equivalent to better than IE5 efficiency class, demand control for optimising IAQ, and ultra-low sound levels.

The system was designed for adaptability, energy conservation, and personalised comfort. Vent-Axia’s in-house testing facility and market research informed the unit’s development, focusing on low specific fan power, efficiency, and low sound levels. The unit, which has been specified but not yet installed, is expected to deliver high performance in diverse climates, addressing the demand for sustainable, energy-efficient building solutions.

Glazpart: Link Vent 4000

The Link Vent 4000, a trickle vent for windows and doors to facilitate passive airflow in dwellings, has received excellent feedback for its simple, user-friendly design. An equivalent area of 4,000mm2 is delivered through a 167mm x 13mm slot, reducing routing machine times and waste materials generated. Further increasing its versatility, the Link Vent 4000 can cool a house when overheating or moderate temperatures through smart ventilation when properties become cold and heating is turned on.

The closing action allows more control over draughts by directing air away from occupants, and the split closure plate enables partial opening. The system was created to address the need for ventilation in smaller rooms and aligns with the 2022 legislative changes. Fully compliant with the Building Regulations, the vent enhances air quality and prevents overheating, and received positive feedback from industry leaders.

Daikin: VRV 5 Heat Recovery

Daikin’s VRV 5 Heat Recovery system is a sustainable and efficient HVAC solution for commercial buildings. Its three-pipe heat recovery technology allows simultaneous cooling and heating, enhancing efficiency with a low condensing temperature. The system includes Daikin’s Shîrudo technology, which uses the integration of a sensor, shut-off valves and alarm to detect and isolate potential leaks. Daikin says this enables rooms to be tackled as small as 10m2 without additional calculations or measures.

Daikin also offers embodied energy assessments for the system based on the TM65 calculation methodology. It shows a decrease of up to 53% in embodied carbon. Case studies, such as the University of Lincoln and BBC Earth Experience, showcase successful installations, highlighting the environmental considerations and energy efficiency.

Kampmann UK:WZA – Decentralised Scholl Ventilation Unit

This unit, introduced to the continental European market in late 2021, enhances air quality and minimises virus concentration. It is designed to improve indoor air quality in classrooms, where research has found that elevated CO2 levels can hinder concentration. With a maximum airflow of 280l/s, the WZA unit features automatic airflow control based on CO2 levels, ensuring it stays below a programmed concentration.

Equipped with an enthalpy counterflow plate heat exchanger, the unit efficiently recovers thermal energy and optimises humidity levels, which is particularly beneficial in winter. Operating on mixed-air ventilation principles, it introduces supply air without draughts. The company focuses on minimising whole life carbon, and the WZA materials are designed to be easily taken apart and separated for recycling.

Healthy Air Technology: Distributed Air Purification System

This holistic air purification solution, integrated with BlockDox buildin management systems, takes a novel approach to combine indoor air quality and building performance. By pairing the HA800 air purification technology with BlockDox’s IoT-enabled platform, the solution optimises spaces for health, comfort, and energy efficiency.

The HA800’s multi-layered filtration system captures pollutant particles as small as 0.3 microns, ensuring clean, healthy air. Its closing action controls draughts, and a split closure plate enables partial opening for enhanced user control. By integrating real-time data from the air purifiers and other building systems, BlockDox’s platform empowers precise and responsive management of environments. It is user-friendly and easy to maintain.

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