FEATURE
contributing 3% to the total amount. While this may appear a relatively small amount, it should not be dismissed out of hand as insignificant by landlords.
In their earliest forms, buildings were erected for the primary purpose of providing shelter and comfort for their occupants. Building materials have evolved and become more diverse over time, resulting in a range of urban and rural landscapes. While their core function has remained largely the same, modern technology has allowed us to maximise buildings’ effectiveness in serving their purpose, as well as making the spaces we live and work in as comfortable as possible. Making improvements, big and small, throughout a building will have a multitude of benefits in both the short and long term, for the landlord and their tenants. Chilled beams and ceilings, for example, have many overall environmental assets, but their advantages don’t end there.
Health benefits From the employer’s perspective, a happy, healthy and committed workforce is a productive one. The choice of HVAC system is therefore playing a more prominent role in workplace design. Organisations want to attract and retain the best talent, and maintain minimal staff absence through sickness, which can cost businesses billions of pounds a year. High CO2
levels also have a negative effect on employees’ productivity and increase tiredness. “HVAC systems account for
almost half (49%) of all energy consumption, with cooling and humidification contributing 3% to the total amount.”
A problem with HVAC systems that take air from ceiling voids is that they collect dust and debris, which lowers air quality. Active chilled beams avoid this problem by only inducing air from the room and not from the ceiling void. Radiant chilled ceilings and radiant chilled beams can be used with displacement ventilation to achieve better air quality. Cooling is achieved by radiant transfer and the extract air at high level removes contaminants as the warm air rises, while the occupied zone is provided by the cooling displacement ventilation.
Chilled beams and ceilings contain no moving parts and can therefore offer near-silent operation, although the process of delivering fresh air results in the generation of slight noise in active beams. They also lower the potential for draughts, which improves indoor comfort levels.
Interior aesthetics The improvements that chilled beams can offer interior aesthetics should not be undervalued. Many architects are favouring more open designs with exposed ceilings due to the spacious, open interior space they create, as well as the increased natural light they offer. This applies to new builds and refurbishments, and chilled beams are ideally
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suited to this type of layout as architects can incorporate chilled beams into their design and make them into a decorative feature. The size, shape and colour of solutions can be varied to meet specific requirements, as can the paint finish. Their flexibility is another advantage as changes to the chilled beam system can be made easily with minimal disruption to other building services.
Added value Installation costs for chilled beams are relatively low compared to other systems. Once installed, chilled beams can add value to a building as they are generally easy to maintain and their life expectancy can easily exceed 20 years. With no filters to replace, no drip trays to biocide and no condensate lines to maintain, the only care required is occasional cleaning, depending on the installation. Not only will this reduce maintenance costs for landlords, but it could also increase their property’s resale value, as prospective buyers can be assured in the knowledge their cooling system is in decent condition, environmentally friendly and still has plenty of life left in it.
Friendly support Most chilled beam systems use three main supporting components: air handling units (AHUs), chillers and pumps. A boiler is required if the system is also providing heating.
These components can all play a part in improving your building’s energy efficiency. Energy recovery devices can be installed in AHUs to recover any of the energy in the exhaust air and transfer it to the supply air. Using such devices reduces energy demand dramatically.
Chillers are used in order to maintain a chilled water temperature flowing to the system of around 14-16˚C, with the return temperature being between 2-4˚C higher. The higher chilled water temperatures in chilled beam and ceiling systems means the chiller can run more efficiently due to the lower temperature lift. The higher chilled temperatures also mean there is a greater amount of time that free-cooling can be used, whereby low outside air temperatures are used for chilling the water.
One more advantage of chilled beams is that they are constructed using recyclable materials, such as steel, aluminium and copper, so there is potential resale value through the use of scrap metal merchants. The decommissioning process is also easier as the materials do not contain refrigerants or oil, so there is no associated legislation, such as the F Gas regulation, to worry about.
A general lack of awareness amongst landlords and facilities managers has perhaps delayed a more widespread adoption of chilled beam technology in the UK. But its popularity in Australia, Scandinavia, central Europe and the U.S suggests a positive future. Technology is advancing all the time and with the growing need for more low energy HVAC solutions, its universal suitability for new build and retrofit projects will continue to push chilled beam technology further up the ladder of preferred building services.
www.feta.co.uk TOMORROW’S FM | 27
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