PRODUCT SHOWCASE
POLYPIPE PARTNERS WITH WSP AND BSRIA ON UNIQUE EARTH TUBE PROJECT
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olypipe, the UK’s leading manufacturer of plastic piping systems, has been approached to deliver a unique earth tube project as part of the redevelopment of a Hounslow primary school. Westbrook Primary School, which is undergoing a complete rebuild, has suffered for years from high noise levels because of its location on Heathrow Airport’s flight path, with open windows in the summer heat often acting as a disruption to lessons. As such, Hounslow Council sought a heating and cooling solution that would create a comfortable year-round learning environment while reducing energy bills and environmental impact. The development work undertaken
at the Primary School also had to satisfy the London Plan: the spatial awareness strategy for the Greater London area that provides strategic guidance for building work in the capital. As well as ensuring that the selected cooling and heating solution met the demands of the school, including helping to manage energy costs, the system also had to demonstrate a positive impact on the school’s carbon efficiency – satisfying the London Plan’s criteria of working towards the creation of a greener, more environmentally friendly city.
As part of the redevelopment the consultant working on the project, WSP, specified a unique earth tube system which would bring natural air in through an induction system and a network of plastic pipes – removing the need for a costly full mechanical ventilation system. After extensive research into earth tube systems, WSP decided that Polypipe’s Ridgistorm-XL large diameter pipe system with electro-fusion jointing provided the optimum solution. Neville Rye, Director at WSP,
explained: “Having researched a variety of materials and solutions, the anti-microbial capabilities of Polypipe’s Ridgistorm-XL pipe system coupled with the fact the system can be designed and prefabricated to exact specifications, made the products an obvious choice”. Polypipe and WSP approached BSRIA at the early design stage to design a CFD parametric testing model which would demonstrate the capability of the Ridgistorm-XL system to work as an earth tube and justify its specification for this application. The tool is extremely advanced, and as such can model local conditions, including variations in atmospheric temperature and soil type, to determine the level of thermal efficiency possible – which in turn can be used to
measure savings made from reduced carbon usage for heating and cooling the air in classrooms. Phil Henry, Specification Manager at
Polypipe, said: “This is the first time that Ridgistorm-XL has been used in this way in the UK, and as such there was limited information on how much energy could be saved for the school, but the tool and the knowledge of our team and partners gave us the confidence that Ridgistorm-XL would meet the requirements of the project.” A few metres below ground the earth temperature is very nearly constant at the yearly average atmospheric temperature. In summer, the soil around the Ridgistorm- XL will be cooler than the atmospheric air, so the pipe will deliver cool fresh air to the school. Conversely, in winter the soil around the Ridgistorm-XL will be warmer than the atmospheric air, so the pipe will deliver pre-heated air to the school – reducing the heating bill of the school. The new school is expected to open in September 2014. For more information visit
www.polypipe.com/civils
CABLE-BASED WATER LEAK DETECTION SYSTEMS WITH INSTANT MESSAGING
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wners of high net worth buildings, valuable assets or mission critical equipment keen to protect the fabric and contents of their premises and reduce insurance premiums can now take positive steps to limit damage by installing the new ProH2O
family –
water-leak-detection.com – of cable-based water leak detection systems from Thermocable Flexible Elements Ltd. Ideal for data centres, galleries, archives, heritage, ecclesiastical and museum buildings, the ProH2O family of products can be used as a standalone solution or integrated with an addressable or conventional building management system to enhance its capabilities. Disaster alerts regarding water leakages can now be sent in real-time via email or mobile phone to estate and facilities managers thanks to its new cloud-based communications platform developed by Concirrus, specialists in cloud-based remote telemetry solutions. The system can also be tailored to include Radin Radio Valve Controllers from Alpha Micro, the machine-to-machine (M2M)
38 PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 4 ISSUE 2
communication expert, to open or close valves remotely and stem the leak using a PC or mobile phone.
Commenting on the new ProH20 family of water leak detector solutions, Andrew Rayner, CEO, Thermocable, said, “Ensuring high value assets, data and property stay protected is a real concern for businesses and individuals. By installing a cable-based linear solution, rather than spot detectors, greater sensor coverage can be achieved.
“By working with M2M experts Alpha Micro and cloud-specialist Concirrus we have been able to ‘add value’ to our product and shorten the development time for a solution that can be used to mitigate disasters in the shortest time possible.” For further information please visit
www.alphamicro.net
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