INSPECTION OF AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEMS

UPRN: 718451880000

Organisation AXA / NB Entrust

Address Gatton Place
Building Manager Paul Partington

Inspection Company PECS

Assessor Name Mir A Ali
Accreditation Number 99405
Date of Inspection 18th February 2010
Accreditation Scheme CIBSE Complex Air Conditioning Inspection Scheme

Executive Summary

Summary

PECS Limited were commissioned by Tracy Fitzsimmons of

NB Real Estate whose registered office address is at 25
Sackville Street, London, W1S 3HQ to undertake a survey of
the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and their
controls at Gatton Place, St Matthews Road, Redhill, RH1 1TA.

The aim of the report was to highlight operating anomalies;

identify no-cost/low-cost initiatives and capital investment
opportunities; to compare the size and appropriateness of
refrigeration plant in relation to cooling demands of the building
and to ascertain the effectiveness of current maintenance regimes,
all of which will enable NB Real Estate energy managers to
optimise the buildings HVAC operations, reduce energy costs and
Carbon Dioxide emissions.

The survey covered the Inspection of HVAC systems, assessing

the performance of fans, and associated heating and cooling
electrical/gas loads, comparing performance with industry
standards to identify energy savings whilst maintaining their
minimum performance requirements.

Comparing the buildings annual energy consumption against

CIBSE performance benchmarks for prestige air-conditioned
offices indicates that there is some scope for improvement.

A number of quick win, low cost energy saving initiatives have

Property & Environmental Consultancy Services Limited

Thursby House • 1 Thursby Road • Bromborough • CH62 3PW
Telephone 0151 346 2131 • info@pecs-ltd.com • www.pecs-ltd.com
been identified and it has been estimated that the adoption of these
modifications could result in a reduction in energy consumption
and improvement in the building performance / ratings.
A number of other observations were made during the audit and are
reported herein, these cover issues such as the condition of
HVAC plant, appropriateness of maintenance regimes,
cooling/building loads, and ways and means of reducing the
cooling load in the building has been identified.
Equipments Inspected The following components of the system were inspected:

System Documentation
Refrigeration Plant
Heat Rejection Equipment
Waterborne Cooling and Air Conditioning Systems
Airborne Cooling and Air Conditioning Systems
Airborne Systems in Air Handling Units
Ducts Outdoor Air Inlets
System Controls

General Systems Overview

Gatton Place London is a modern air-conditioned 4 storey office
block that in addition has a lower ground floor (basement). The
building is primarily used as an office space for a wide range of
tenants. The building is of brick construction with double glazed
windows and a built up flat roof. Some of the windows are “bay”
types and the overall floor layout is in a T shape.

Gatton Place St Matthews Road, Redhill, RH1 1TA has a total

estimated floor area of 2,400 m2, and an estimated HVAC treated
floor area of 2,344 m2 that gives rise to a conditioned volume of
5,860 m3 based on an average ceiling height of 2.5 m. The
building is heated, cooled and ventilated via a primary AHU
providing the fresh air and a number of Fan coil units on various
floors with a 4 pipe system and a modulating valve providing
heating and cooling to the conditioned space.

The AHU is a constant volume system that provides fresh

conditioned air to occupied spaces; the AHU also provides
tempered fresh air to the toilet areas located in the building.

The AHU‟s are interfaced with the fire alarm, in case of a fire, the
Supply fan is shut down and the extract fan is started and run at
constant speed with extract dampers in full extract mode in order
to extract smoke from the zone.

Standard plant operational hours are between 06:00 to 18:00 Monday

to Friday with a slight variation during the week, with no weekend
working, the plant is shut down on public holidays. The building has
a maximum occupancy level of about 300 staff, these figures have
been advised by the client; these are spread unevenly across all the
floors. Plant operation times vary depending on areas served and
these are provided in detail in the report.
Gatton Place, Redhill actual electricity consumption during
2008 was 164,170 kWh‟s costing £14,381.29 based on an
electricity tariff of 8.76 pence/kWh (Inclusive of VAT at 17.5%),
274,291 kWh‟s of gas were consumed over the same period costing
£7,680.14 based on a cost of 2.80 pence/kWh (Inclusive of VAT
at 17.5%). All consumption data has been deduced from the 2008
yearly energy analysis data provided by the client

The buildings primary heating medium is the LTHW system,

which is generated via two numbers modular boilers that having
a set of duty and standby pumps that feed the constant
temperature and variable temperature hot water circuit. Domestic
hot water is provided by a centralised calorifier located in the
basement area.

The building has a fully integrated BMS system (Trend Controls)

with a front end which monitors AHU, Chillers, Boilers etc. As
the BMS has been operational since 1994, consideration should be
made to upgrade the existing BMS to include trends and other
additional features to improve energy efficiency.

Gatton Place was constructed in the 1980‟s; the thermal elements

and standards reflect the building regulations level of compliance
at the time of construction in 1980. However the building has
undergone re-development works over the years, mainly in 1991
and the services match the age of the building.

The construction of Gatton Place is of brick construction with double

glazed windows and a built up flat roof. Some of the windows are
“bay” types and the overall floor layout is in a T shape.

Projected energy savings and costs are based on 2008 energy prices.
Energy Performance
Benchmarks This compares the energy performance for Gatton Place,
Redhill against a good and typical practice benchmarks for
delivered energy in KWHr/m-2/year of treated floor area
within a „Type 4‟ prestige air-conditioned office for gas and
electricity consumed. Source CIBSE Guide F (part C
Benchmarks). Current performance has been calculated on
invoice data and hour hourly data provided by the client.

The total treated floor area for Gatton Place is 2,344 m2.
Gatton Place
Good Practice Typical current
Performance
Electricity Kilowatt 324
234 117
Hours per metre
squared
Gas of treated
Kilowatt Hoursfloor
area per year. of 114 210 70
per metre squared
treated floor area per
year.
Please note that good practice and typical benchmark figures
provided above are based on delivered energy only and
therefore do not take account of distribution inefficiencies.

From the energy consumption charts, it is obvious that the site

has been operating in an energy efficient manner. Whilst this
is unlikely to have any significant impact on the benchmark
rating of electricity, it will nonetheless, have a greater bearing
on the outcome of gas benchmark figures that vary significantly

depending on the type and hence efficiency of the heating

system/medium being used, and therefore should be taken
into consideration when judging building performance.
 The building is heated, cooled and ventilated via a primary
HVAC Systems. Roof Air AHU which provides the conditioned fresh air and a number of
Handling Units Fan coil units with a 4 pipe system including modulating valves
located in the periphery of the building in the various floors from
Ground Floor to Level-4, a thermostat and a return air sensor
which provide heating / Cooling to the building. There are
approximately 12 FCU‟s per floor with around 48 FCU‟s for the
whole building.
Based on the occupancy details of about 300 provided by the
client, the total fresh air requirement for the building based on 12
Lts /sec/ person a requirement of 3.6 M3/sec is required. There is
an AHU supplying conditioned fresh air requirement to the
building at 2.75 M3 /sec, it would appear than the fresh air
requirement of the building is deficient of the CIBSE guidelines
for fresh air requirement for offices.

Supply AHU- 1
AHU-1 currently provides conditioned and fresh air supply to the
building, and serves the basement to Level-4 areas of the site.
There are no commissioning or as built records at site to indicate
AHU-1 air-flow rates. The air flow rate for AHU-1 supply and
extract were not made available during the survey, due to the lack
of detail available in the O&M Manual, the AHU has an air flow of
2.75 M3/sec as per its name plate. The extract fan does not have a
name plate with capacities, it has a duct size of 600X400 based on
an air velocity of 6 M/sec, gives an air flow of 1.44 M3/sec. These
AHU‟s are a Once through type unit, there is a frost coil, but does
not have a heat recovery module in these units.

Unit Unit Design Airflow Actual Airflow m3/s

Number
AHU-1 typethrough
Once m3/s
2.75 2.75
Supply
AHU-1 Once through 1.44 1.44
Extract
Each air handling unit is made up of a supply air section only,
this consists of an inlet louvre, a bag filter, a frost coil, an LPHW
heating, Chilled water cooling coil, humidifier and a forward
curve belt driven centrifugal fan driven by a 415V 3 phase motor.
Air is extracted from the conditioned space and plant room area
via a dedicated axial fan, driven by a 415V 3 phase motor. These
AHU‟s are constant speed motors, providing conditioned air based
on occupancy demand / temperature.
The air-handling units operate under the control of a BMS system, the strategy
of which is shown in the tables below. The AHU‟s are operated on a time
schedule in conjunction with the Fan coil units on each floor. The AHU‟s have
a free cooling facility but it control methodology is not quite clear.

Air Supply AHU-1

Parameter Setpoint Dead Band Control Method/Strategy

21°C N/A Supply Air Duct Sensor

Strategy Status Control Method/Strategy

Fan Speed Constant Speed
Heat Recovery No
Night Setback No
Booster Facility No
Free Cooling Determined from BMS Not quite clear
Min F.A. Damper 100% Manual
AHU Frost No
Protection
Time Schedules Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Running Time- 06.00- 07.00- 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- Off Off
AHU-1 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00

Floor FCU’s

Floor ventilation is provided by a number of Fan Coil units operating a 4 pipe

system with a modulating valve providing cooling / heating dampers on each
floor along the periphery of the building. The modulating valve controlled by
a thermostat and a return air sensor which provide heating / cooling to the
conditioned spaces. The fresh air is ducted to the individual FCU‟s, with a
centralised point in each floor where the air is being extracted.

The BMS strategy for the individual floors are based on time schedules on
various floors, the modulating valves actuate on demand provided by the
return air sensor. The modulating valves are pneumatically operated.
 Time Schedules Mon Tue Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
Ground Floor 06.00- 06.00- 06.00- 06.00- 06.00- Off Off
18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00
First Floor 07.00- 07.00- 07.00- 07.00- 07.00- Off Off
18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00
Second Floor 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- Off Off
18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00
Third Floor 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- Off Off
18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00
Fourth Floor 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- 08.00- Off Off
18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 18.00

Toilet Supply

The heating and ventilation of the toilet areas in the floor areas is carried out
by a branched supply from the main AHU. The Toilet extract fan are located
on the roof and are operated on a time clock.

Chilled Water Systems

1 No Carrier Chiller serves the various floors within Gatton Place; this is
located inside the plant room, with a remote external condenser located on the
roof. The nominal cooling output and input capacity of the unit is 268 kW
having a theoretical COP of 2.5. The chillers were operational during the
survey. The existing chillers are on R22 refrigerant.

As part of the site documentation review a separate log for the F-Gas
Inspection records was adequately identified and maintained. It is important
that as a statutory requirement a clear and available separate record is
maintained.

This requirement came into force on 4th July 2007 under the European
Union's F Gas regulations No 842 /2006 and should provide full details of
the installed equipment to be checked for leakage and the timetable that it
will be undertaken. As Part of any proposed re-commissioning of the air
systems the leaning of the internal ductwork would be beneficial. The
ongoing maintenance of the plant and equipment is essential in ensuring the
maximum operating efficiency and minimal energy consumption. To achieve
this regular and recorded identified planned preventative maintenance tasks
should be maintained to the highest level.

This should provide full details of the installed equipment to be checked for
leakage and the timetable that it will be undertaken. In addition, as from July
4th 2009, the contractor undertaking the maintenance of the refrigeration is
required to be registered with REFCOM, who are the Government‟s new F-
Gas Certification Body. As this, again, is a statutory requirement, details of
the registration should also be held on site for reference by the enforcement
body.

The indicated service frequency needs to comply with normal practice and
the recommendations of HVCA SG20 (Standard Maintenance Specification
for Mechanical Services in Buildings - Section 9 Packaged Chillers),
Service reports only indicate that work has been untaken and no details of
the content of the service visit i.e. major or minor. A separate service report
sheet is recommended to confirm the detail of the work undertaken

Plant size in relation to cooling load

The combined cooling capacity of all refrigeration plant on site consists of 1 No

Carrier chiller with a capacity of 268 KW. The total conditioned area of the
building is 2,344 m2, therefore based on an occupancy level of around 300
members of staff, 300 PC‟s, 5 laser printers, 5 photocopiers, 50% glazing on all
elevations, the approximate cooling load required is 120 W/m2 x 2,344 m2 =
281 kW. The existing cooling load of the building is 114 W / m2. The sizing of
refrigeration plant unit in relation to the present load is slightly undersized.

Based on the benchmarks stated in the “Energy Consumption Guide 19-

Energy in offices” for cooling, for this type of building classification a
typical value of 41 KWHr /m 2 and 21 KWHr / m2 for good practice should
be achieved. An estimate of the buildings likely performance for the current
main air conditioning system indicates a value of 52 KWHr /m 2.

This indicates the possibilities of energy efficiencies that can be made and
the resultant reduction in CO2 and energy costs. A rule of thumb estimate,
indicates that the cooling load for the treated areas based on 95% of the
total office area is in the order of 96.3 W /m2 and estimated load in order of
214 KW.

The F-Gas requirement came into force on 4th July 2007 under the
European Union's F Gas regulations No 842 /2006 and should provide full
details of the installed equipment to be checked for leakage and the
timetable that it will be undertaken. As Part of any proposed re-
commissioning of the air systems the leaning of the internal ductwork
would be beneficial. The ongoing maintenance of the plant and equipment
is essential in ensuring the maximum operating efficiency and minimal
energy consumption. To achieve this regular and recorded identified
planned preventative maintenance tasks should be maintained to the highest
level.

The original water chiller uses R22 which is a HCFC Refrigerant comes under
the Ozone Regulations and requires replacement. The Ozone Regulation came
into force in 2000 and it has already banned the use of ozone depleting HCFC
refrigerants such as R22 in new systems. The Regulation will ban the use of
R22 as a “top-up” fluid for maintenance between 2010 (for virgin fluid) and the
end of 2014 or earlier (for recycled fluid).

This is of crucial importance and means that all users of R22 and other HCFC
systems need to consider alternative refrigerants or the purchase of new
equipment. Replacement of the water chiller should consider both if the
additional cooling is needed and if so that a higher efficiency solution to
improve the reduction in energy reduction is installed. Please refer to the Action
plan for more details.

Ancillary Extract Plant

The fan unit is of the axial type, there are no commissioning or as built
records at site to indicate AHU air-flow rates. These units are controlled via the
BMS and operate continuously during occupancy of the building.

FCU’s (Terminal Units)

The building is heated, cooled and ventilated via two primary AHU‟s and a
number of Fan coil units with a 4 pipe system including modulating valves
located in the periphery of the building in the various floors from Sub
basement to Level-4, a thermostat and a return air sensor which provide
heating / Cooling to the building.

There are approximately 12 FCU‟s per floor which are generally located at
high level in the ceiling void of the floors, with around 48 FCU‟s in the
building.

Temperature set points for the floors are adjusted through individual thermostats
located near the FCU, some of the thermostats at the time of inspection were
21°C. The actual air-flow rates of the FCU‟s were not available at the time of
inspection.

Sample selections of 10% of the FCU‟s were selected based on TM-44

recommendations. Access to these units was difficult at the time of audit due to
the space being busily occupied; however the units inspected were on the
vacant floors i.e. Ground Floor wings. The fresh air ductwork from the AHU‟s
is fed directly into the FCU‟s at low level, the ductwork was found to be dusty.
We were advised that due to some construction activity taking place in a
nearby building, there has been some ingress of dust in the AHU‟s and
ductwork. The FCU‟s were operating satisfactory on visual inspection. We
were advised that filter replacement were carried out on a quarterly basis.
Planned preventative records were not made available during the site visit.
Quick Win Opportunities

1. Heating/Cooling supply set points on AHU plant, FCU systems are not
consistent. This is almost certainly resulting in superfluous heating and
cooling in certain areas. Based on industry indicators these variations
could be placing an additional 5% margin on the buildings HVAC
performance.

The adoption of a heating schedule policy should therefore be

considered to ensure optimum temperatures are maintained and to prevent
the adjustment of set points resulting from individual complaints. In
addition, a dead-band of 3°C (+/-1.5°C) between heating and cooling
should be considered to minimise energy consumption and avoid
simultaneous heating and cooling. It may also be beneficial to review the
frequency of temperature and pressure sensor calibration, in order maintain
optimum control efficiency. It is good practice that all sensors be checked on
an annual basis.

Specific considerations should be given to:

Adopting a heating schedule policy to ensure optimum

temperatures are maintained, this will help provide uniformity of
temperature set points across units serving the same space.
Ensuring a dead band of at least 3°C (+/-1.5°C) is factored
into BMS strategies to prevent simultaneous heating and cooling
taking place.
Reviewing the frequency of temperature and pressure sensor
calibration, in order maintain optimum control efficiency.

2. Standard occupancy times of the building are between 8 am to 6pm Monday

to Friday. It is therefore recommended that plant running hour be
reviewed and optimised to reduce unnecessary energy usage and
associated costs. Based on our review of plant time schedules it is estimated
that the buildings annual energy consumption could be reduced by up to
10% from the review and optimisation of plant running hours. Whilst it
is inevitable that some building occupants will remain on site until 6pm,
comfortable internal temperatures will be sustained for a considerable
period of time after plant has been isolated due to the inherent low inertia of
this type of building, therefore space temperatures should be monitored and
time schedules optimised for varying seasons of the year.

3. During the time of inspection, we found that the primary and secondary
chilled water pumps were constant speed belt driven, consideration should be
made to convert the existing pumps to a variable speed drive (VSD) this would
result in energy savings. Estimated energy savings gained from replacing from
constant speed to variable speed drives would result in a payback period of
around 2 ½ years.

4. During the time of inspection, we found that the AHU was constant speed
motors, consideration should be made to convert the existing AHU‟s to a
variable speed drive (VSD) based on occupancy / temperature. This would
result in energy savings. Estimated energy savings gained from replacing
from constant speed to variable speed drives would result in a payback
period of around 2 years.

5. Gatton Place has an Energy Performance Asset Rating of E/121,The

relatively poor performance is mainly due to the low efficiency of the
air handling plant and boiler which could be improved through the
installation of heat recovery and variable speed drives for the fans as
stated earlier. This would result in energy savings. Estimated energy
savings gained from installing heat recovery would result in a payback
period of around 2 years.
Documentation, Maintenance,
Specific Fan Power &
Metering Inspection of
documentation and records
The following list of documentation and maintenance records
were requested during the site inspection which are kept in the
facilities/maintenance office:
Operation and Maintenance manuals
Plant Installation drawings
Planned Preventative Maintenance Records
Floor Plans (used for the calculation of ventilation
air change rates)
While reviewing the Operational and Maintenance manuals,
Commissioning Data for the Mechanical plant including
commissioning results ( including flow rates) for the AHU‟s,
CHW Pumps were not found with the O&M Manuals. The As
Built record drawings and subsequent amendments were not
available at site. Planned Preventative Maintenance Records
indicating the frequency of maintenance / schedules was made
available during the visit.
The refrigeration servicing or leakage inspections are being
undertaken by an external specialist contractor. This work
however, is regularly undertaken by the sites refrigeration
contractor who is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of
all refrigeration equipment.
The indicated service frequency should comply with normal
practice and the recommendations of HVCA SG20 (Standard
Maintenance Specification for Mechanical Services in Buildings -
Section 9 Packaged Chillers), Service reports only indicate that
work has been untaken and no details of the content of the service
visit i.e. major or minor. A separate service report sheet is
recommended to confirm the detail of the work undertaken.
Summary Condition Appraisal and Maintenance Overview
The air tightness of AHU enclosures serving the building are
generally sound, although there was evidence of some air
leakage through holes in ductwork on a few Air Handling units
mainly due to the air flow sensors on the ductwork coming loose.
In general, the majority of plant and equipment is in good order,
although a number of issues observed whilst on site need to be
addressed and these are commented on in paragraphs to
follow. However, despite these issues evidence was provided at
 the time of inspection of a comprehensive planned
preventative maintenance (PPM) regime, as well as an
effective reactive maintenance regime supported by onsite
maintenance personnel.

A number of filters were inspected during the assessment, these

were reasonably clean. The AHU coil faces were checked for
dirt ingress and were found to be in good condition.

AHU cooling coils appear signs of denting; it would be

recommended that all heating and cooling coils be combed
periodically. Combing the AHU coil faces would help in
reducing the coil pressure drop thereby reducing the overall
energy consumption of the fans.

.
During the inspection, we were advised of a cooling problem on the second floor. We feel
the cause of the problem is made up of several changes to the floor space over the past few
years. There are 12 Fan Coil units on the second floor however; the installation of the
partition has now left 50% of these units cooling several individual offices that only take
up 30% of the overall space. The remaining 70% of the second floor is where the
overheating problems are occurring. This area is now occupied by around 36 people all
using individual computer equipment, plus the added heat from several printers and mainly
3 vending machines providing additional heating to the floor space. In addition to this, the
area is also South facing and suffers from solar gain. we have calculated, using industry
guidelines, that this area would require 51kw of cooling with the system only being able to
provide 36kw to this area.

Having looked at the graphs supplied the approx 30 year old system is finding it hard to
cool each of the floors, but due to the second floor having the characteristics listed above
this is by far the worst. The system was originally designed for an open plan floor layout
plus an even spread of both staff and equipment. At the time of the building construction
the designers would have also not allowed for the quantity of electrical equipment
currently in use on this floor.

The solution to the overheating problem will undoubtedly need to come from several
options combined in order to guarantee conditions that currently cannot be met. The
installation of a Solar Film to the windows will provide some degree of reduction but not
enough to bridge the gap between the system and the current requirements. Calculations
reveal that the solar film could be expected to deflect as much as 9kw of the additional
heat. The removal of the main partitioning would also allow the remaining 50% of the
FCU‟S to assist in cooling the overheated area.

As for major mechanical solutions, there are two options.

1- The first is to add additional FCU‟S to the existing system- this would require further
work to establish if this was possible, but due to the age and requirements of the rest of the
building we feel this probably would not be feasible.

2-The second is to isolate the building system on this floor and install an independent split
heating/cooling system- If the tenant on this floor does not want to change their layout or
the way they work this would probably be the best solution alongside the solar film.
Further work would be required to establish whether the building could supply the
necessary power requirements and space for the outdoor condenser units. Unfortunately at
this time we do not have any accurate costs for this task, but past experience tells us that a
budget figure of £40k would be required to install this type of system.
While at site, we were advised by the security staff of a heating problem in the reception
area, we have had a close look at the heating problems in the reception areas as requested:

• There are 2 No‟s FCU‟s serving the reception area with 1 No FCU serving the
reception area leading to the lift lobby. These are being fed by the LPHW mains in the
building. As the plant is only operational during office hours, the FCU‟s do not work
during the night shift for the security officer.

• The trench heating for frost protection of the atrium is fed by a small gas fired
boiler in the Ground floor pantry area, unfortunately as the thermostat is located right
above the newly installed wall mounted electrical heaters, these do not function as
intended. I have looked at the trench heating, it was switched off.

• Hence the only heating functional in the reception area is the newly installed wall
mounted electrical heaters.

• A portion of the glass atrium was smashed leaving a huge gap in the glass ceiling,
we have been advised that remedial measures are being looked.

• The doors leading to the reception are not air tight, with big gaps in them. This
leads to air leakage and infiltration into the atrium.

The following remedial measures are suggested.

• The 3 No‟s FCU‟s in the reception area to be connected to the small gas fired boiler
in the ground floor pantry area. The thermostat for the trench heating is wrongly located
and needs changing to ensure that the space temperature is properly sensed. The budgetary
cost for this work is around £1500.00

• The Glass doors need re-sealing to ensure air tightness, we believe a budgetary cost
of £800.00 would be adequate.

• We believe the glass atrium gap is being currently addressed.

• We believe the small gas fired boiler is adequate for the reception load, once the
FCU‟s are connected to the local heating circuit and the thermostat relocated this should
help alleviate the problem.
BMS System

The BMS at Gatton Place consist of 1no IQ131+ series Trend controller, controlling the
main plant operation and DHWS and 56no. IQ210 series Trend controllers located on in
the roof space on each of the floors controlling the FCU‟s.

The IQ 131+ is still supported by Trend but it is now an obsolete model and would be
worth consideration for replacement. There is a direct 2 series controller available with the
same footprint making it a simple swap out operation. The new controller would add
extended reliability and enhanced functionality. The IQ 210 series are still current and
should be supported for the foreseeable future.

The controllers form part of a Trend network that also incorporates a TMN modem node,
and a CNC communications node. There is also NDP (Network display panel) in the plant
room connected via the CNC node to the network. This allows on site user adjustment and
basic interrogation of the system.

The system controls all the building HVAC equipment but does not extend to lighting,
door or security integration. The individual fan coil units are all collectively enabled by the
main controller and individually controlled via the local IQ210 controllers.

The FCU temperature is maintained by a typical twin PID loop control as shown below.
This has individual Set Point control to fine tune each area and separate zone or manual
override facility.

Finally, consideration should be given to refurbishment or upgrading of the existing BMS

system. While there is a free cooling option available on the AHU‟s, the BMS control
strategy is based on the average building temperature and is not quite clear on its
operational aspects. At present, the heating /cooling dead band is kept at less than 1 Deg C,
it might need re-visiting in order to prevent simultaneous chiller and boiler operation.
However, at present there are a few chiller set points which prevent the simultaneous
operation of the chiller and boiler. There are chiller and boiler optimisation schedules in
operation with a weather compensation schedule for boilers.

There is The BMS control philosophy would need to be revised in order to simplify the
control strategy to ensure a proper dead band between the heating and cooling regimes, this
would prevent the chiller and boiler operating simultaneously.

Specific Fan Power

Whilst on site, power consumed by all large supply and extract fans were inspected, in order
that Specific Fan Power (SFP) of each system may be determined and compared with current
levels recommended in the Non- domestic Heating, Cooling and Ventilation Compliance
Guide, the results of which are provided in the table below.
There are no commissioning or as built records at site to indicate AHU air-flow rates. For
calculating the specific fan powers of the fans an assessment was made based on the extract
fan diameter and an air velocity in the riser, to estimated air flow rates for AHU‟s.

Plant Details / Total

Extract Total Actual Recommended
Reference Number Calculated
Supply Fan Power Specific Specific Fan
Fan Air Volume
Power Power Consumed Fan Power
through
k/W by System System Power
k/W
AHU-1 2.2 1.1 3.2 4.19 1.30 2.5
Toilet Extract Fan - - - - - -

As seen from the table above, the AHU‟s fan systems seem to meet current compliance,
but as indicated these are only estimates as air- flow rate information was not available at
site. As a general rule more frequent replacement of filter media results in an improved
overall fan performance.

Metering

No individual items of plant serving this building has its own dedicated energy input or
hours run meter, although each floor of the building does have its own electricity sub
meter, gas consumed by the boiler-house is also metered. Meter readings are read and
recorded on a regular basis and this data was provided by the client prior to attending site.

It is recommended that the scope of metering be reviewed to install appropriate metering

at least to the more significant energy consuming air conditioning plant, and subsequently
to record the consumption on a regular basis. CIBSE TM39: Building energy metering
provides guidance on developing a metering plan and should be consulted for best
practise and advice.
Capital Investment Opportunities

Chiller /Refrigerant Replacement

The combined cooling capacity of all refrigeration plant on site consists of 1 No Carrier
chillers with 268 KW capacity, a quick rule of thumb based on the existing sensible and
latent loads gives a total cooling load of around 280 KW. The chiller seems to be slightly
undersized for its duty.

The original water chiller uses R22 which is a HCFC Refrigerant comes under the Ozone
Regulations and requires replacement. The Ozone Regulation came into force in 2000
and it has already banned the use of ozone depleting HCFC refrigerants such as R22 in
new systems. The Regulation will ban the use of R22 as a “top-up” fluid for maintenance
between 2010 (for virgin fluid) and the end of 2014 or earlier (for recycled fluid).

As a low cost measure, the chiller manufacturer should be contacted regarding the drop
in refrigerant, the chiller manufacturer could blank-off those evaporator tubes causing the
refrigerant leaks, this could be done without incurring loss of cooling capacity.

The existing chillers were installed in 1983 and are currently operational and in a
reasonably good condition considering their age. The chiller manufacturer should be
contacted to advise on potential costs for retrofitting the chiller with refrigerants with a
lower GWP and ODP.

BMS Upgrade

The existing BMS (Trend Controls- Doorway) has been in operation for more than 18
years and is in need of an upgrade, consideration should be made to ensure that the new
upgrade relieves the need for a pneumatic system; consideration should also be made to
simplify the BMS control philosophy at site and incorporating adequate graphics for
plant.

VSD’s for AHU and Pumps

The existing AHU‟s are constant speed motors, consideration should be made to convert the
existing AHU‟s to a variable speed drive (VSD) based on occupancy / temperature. This
would result in energy savings. Estimated energy savings gained from replacing from
constant speed to variable speed drives would result in a payback period of around 2 years.

Primary and secondary chilled water pumps were constant speed belt driven, consideration
should be made to convert the existing pumps to a variable speed drive (VSD) this would result
in energy savings. Estimated energy savings gained from replacing from constant speed to
variable speed drives would result in a payback period of around 2 ½ years.
Action Plan

1. Frequently review HVAC plant operation times on the BMS to reflect building
occupancy times.

2. As the chillers are based on R22, they would need to be retrofitted with a refrigerant
which has a lower GWP and ODP, the chiller manufacturer should be contacted to
investigate whether the existing chillers could be retrofitted with a refrigerant which
has superior performance characteristics whereby increasing the cooling load of the
existing chillers and make enable the chillers to be more eco-friendly.

3. Consider adopting a heating schedule policy to ensure optimum temperatures are

maintained.

4. It was noted that the current system is a pneumatic control system consideration
should be made to upgrade the control system to a DDC controller based system; this
work could be carried out in conjunction with upgrading the existing BMS system.

5. It was noted that the general lighting has been supplemented or replaced by high
frequency T5 lighting in some areas; it is recommended that all lighting is upgraded
to HF T5 tubes.

6. Improve existing energy management practices covering;

Switching off lights when not needed;

Forming a small Energy Committee from the tenants to identify energy

saving measures.

7. Reduce the current user temperature control range on all systems from 19-25°C to 19-
22°C.

8. Ensure that a dead band of at least 3°C (+/- 1.5°C) is factored into BMS strategies to
prevent simultaneous heating and cooling taking place. These should be done in
conjunction with all the other existing operational settings.

9. Consider operating the 2 chillers on demand only, or on outside air temperature to

prevent unnecessary operation and hence energy waste.

10. Consider insulating pipe-work, pipe work joints and valves were necessary to
reduce heat looses to the plant room.

11. While the cooling and heating coils of the AHU‟s were generally clean
consideration should be given to combing the coil fins on the heating and cooling
coils to reduce system pressures and increase system efficiencies.

12. The AHU filters appear dirty, Consideration should be made towards replacing filters
 on a more frequent basis to reduce system pressures and hence energy costs.

13. The flexible ducts on the tenant floors appear to have come out due to age. Plug or
tape over leaks in all air delivery systems indicated.

14. The internal ductwork in some areas appeared to be dirty, and presented a tired look.
Consideration should be made to clean the ductwork, thereby improving the filters
and hence the conditioned space.

15. Consideration should be given to installing reflective External solar control coatings
film on the western glazing which should result in reduction of cooling loads.

16. Consideration should be made to upgrade the existing BMS to include cooling load
trends and individual floor temperature profiles.

17. There are a large number of halogen lamps in the common areas which should be
replaced by Compact Fluorescent or LED lamps.

18. Consideration should be given to the installation of shading in the Atrium areas to
avoid overheating. This will help in reducing the cooling load on the building.

19. Consideration should be made to adequately maintain the chemical dosing of the
chilled water circuit, by taking adequate water quality samples to ensure the system is
free from residual build up.

20. We were advised by the maintenance contractor that the water quality of the chilled
water circuit is not good, while there is water sampling taken at site on a periodic
basis, this issue should be taken up with the specialist contractor to resolve the water
quality issue.
 Summary and advice for load reduction or Alternatives

External solar control window film could be effective, in conjunction with increased
ventilation through window opening (during spring and autumn), in minimising the use of
refrigeration systems.

In addition, some internal heat gains could be reduced by adopting the following initiatives:

Segregate printers and photocopiers in a separate room with a provision for a fitted
with mechanical ventilation extract fan for the building.
Enable auto power down and choose equipment with a low standby power.
Use lighting controls that switch off or dim when daylight is sufficient.
Ensure that the PC‟s are switched off during out of office hours.

Signature of Inspector Mir A Ali

Date 05 /03/2010