SUMMER MAINTENANCE BEAT THE HEAT
By integrating advanced technology, data-driven insights, and expert engineering, summer maintenance can transition from a reactive process to a strategic operation that improves occupant comfort and drives energy efficiency, believes Matt Hellicar, Executive Director of Customer Solutions at Platinum Facilities.
Summer in the UK can be unforgiving, particularly for office workers in city centres like London. Our buildings are ill-equipped to handle the rising temperatures for multiple reasons.
Much of our existing building stock was designed for a more moderate climate. If anything, the focus had been on retaining heat during the colder months rather than staying cool in the summer. With no high-capacity cooling systems in place, optimising a building meant opening windows or switching off the heating.
These days, newer office buildings – often steel-framed towers – are sealed off from the outside and depend on mechanical ventilation (HVAC systems, air handling units, fan coil systems, etc.) to maintain optimal temperatures and air quality. But this presents a different kind of challenge: increasingly, facilities managers must balance occupier comfort with the rising energy demand from cooling systems made to work harder – all while trying to reduce carbon emissions.
As a result, conventional methods of running and maintaining HVAC systems are becoming less and less effective. Running a plant at full capacity all year round can be unnecessary because this approach (or lack of) doesn’t consider real-time changes to crucial factors such as external weather conditions and building occupancy, thereby wasting energy and reducing the lifespan of assets. We all know how temperamental British summers can be – cold snaps follow heat spikes in the blink of an eye.
Tech forward By equipping assets with IoT sensors, engineering teams can transition from static, fixed-schedules to a demand-driven, data-led approach. This allows them to monitor and measure real-time data across multiple areas, including temperature, humidity, external weather conditions, occupancy, asset condition and energy consumption. Rather than relying on rigid schedules or assumptions, it means engineering teams can be more responsive, accurate and efficient.
Maintenance schedules can then adapt to this new dynamic approach. Typically, HVAC systems in a commercial office building operate on a scheduled maintenance plan aligned with SFG20. Filters are changed and refrigerant levels checked at set intervals unless a human intervenes. Equip HVAC units with IoT sensors and a BMS, and this technology can identify changes when a heatwave occurs – for example, the system might detect that the units on the sun-facing side of the building are
running well above normal load, such as 120% of typical capacity over an extended period. The sensors monitor key indicators – airflow rates, temperature differentials, compressor run-times and energy consumption, flagging units that exceed preset parameters and alerting the engineering team. Engineers can then carry out preventative maintenance where needed, while avoiding unaffected units – saving money and freeing resource allocation in more urgent or value-add areas.
That said, this demand-driven strategy isn’t meant as a wholesale replacement for SFG20. Facilities managers should consider an integrated approach, with SFG20 guidelines serving as the foundation for compliance and health and safety requirements. Indeed, the Building Engineering Services Association, which formed SFG20, has acknowledged the role of smart maintenance in its standard, with newer versions of the platform offering more flexibility and customisation.
“By equipping assets with IoT sensors, engineering teams can transition from static, fixed-schedules to a demand- driven, data-led approach.”
Sea Containers London In a recent real-world example, we worked with our smart technology partners at Sea Containers London, a high-end, multi-use building on London’s South Bank, to fine-tune a demand-driven, data-led asset management strategy. Here, we connected more than 300,000 data points across equipment such as boilers, fans and chillers. The insights from these sensors allowed us to develop a predictive maintenance and fault detection strategy that enhanced our decision-making exponentially. In one case, a fan coil unit was found alternating rapidly between heating and cooling, even during warm weather. Through targeted, demand-led control, such as balancing boiler load and avoiding overlapping energy use, the building is on track for a 60% reduction in energy consumption.
Summer maintenance doesn’t need to be a laborious, inefficient, reactive task. With the right technology, data and skilled engineering teams, it can be a dynamic service that enhances occupier comfort and contributes to energy performance goals.
www.pfms.co.uk 22 | TOMORROW’S FM
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