Commercial heating
Reinventing prefab
Advanced off-site fabricated technologies are offering rapid, high-quality solutions to improved heating efficiency, says James Porter. Prefab is back in fashion
under factory conditions arrive preassem- bled on site. It’s an approach that’s growing in popularity with a number of housing associations. The Government is also showing support, with prefabrication a key theme in its recently published white paper ‘Fixing our broken housing market’. So why the new interest in prefab? Speed is a key factor, as the accelerated construction of modular houses provides a possible solution to tackling the UK’s housing crisis. Then there’s the innovative design, high manufacturing standards and greater energy efficiency of these state-of- the-art homes that illustrate the rapid advance of prefabrication in recent years.
P Prefab heating technology
But how does this relate to commercial heating? Prefabricated technologies may be less widely used in heating, but here too it brings numerous benefits from reduced
refabrication is a tried-and-tested method in building construction, where components manufactured
on-site time to improved quality control and efficiency. Importantly, while prefab in building
construction is typically linked with new build development, prefabricated heating technologies are ideally suited for use in both new and existing buildings. As a large user of energy in a building, heating offers huge scope for efficiency measures. And today’s advanced prefab heating technolo- gies could provide a practical solution to raising the energy performance of many of the UK’s inefficient commercial buildings.
30% energy/cost savings
A significant number of our non-domestic buildings rely on commercial boiler plant for their heating. Ageing, inefficient boilers needlessly increase operating bills and greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the Carbon Trust calculates that 20% of a business’s annual bills are typically wasted through the use of energy inefficient equipment. Condensing boilers are the most
Gateshead Council chose to install a Remeha-designed bespoke rig at South Street Primary School as a high quality, rapid solution to meet the tight refurb schedule
efficient of all boiler technologies, capable of achieving gross efficiencies as high as 98%. Condensing boilers are also renowned for their reliability and low NOx emissions. Replacing any inefficient boilers with high-efficiency condensing boilers and controls could deliver energy, cost and carbon savings up to 30%, according to the Carbon Trust. But they can also help companies deliver on their wider sustainability issues. With their cleaner, greener heating, condensing boilers help create the sustainable building environ- ment shown to impact positively on employees’ health, wellbeing and produc- tivity. The same low NOx emissions also reduce pollution for improved air quality.
Rapid bespoke solution
Three Remeha Quinta Pro115s on a bespoke rig with a pressurisation unit met Gateshead Council's requirement for high efficiency heating at Windy Nook Primary School
March 2017
So where does prefab come in? Installing condensing boilers is a relatively straight- forward process. But in situations where a series of projects need to be completed within a tight timeframe, prefabricated heating solutions provide the ultimate in fast installation. Take the rig system, for example, a
proven structure that speeds up installa- tion of multiple condensing boilers. The boilers are delivered into the plant room in a pre-assembled wheeled unit ready for easy connection to the existing system.
www.heatingandventilating.net
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