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The benefits of osite manufacturing are well established in construcon, but prefabricated heang soluons are also delivering important advantages on school heang refurbishment projects. Tom Murray, specificaon director at Baxi Heang, outlines the benefits


W


ith schools and colleges in England now reopened to all pupils, student and staff health and wellbeing will be at the top of the agenda for school operators. Regular


testing for COVID-19, ventilation hygiene, air quality as well as frequent handwashing have been identified as the key areas of focus to mitigate the risk of infection spreading.


But as building services professionals are aware, heating and hot water services also have a vital role to play in keeping school buildings functional, comfortable and safe. Ensuring that the heating system operates efficiently simultaneously helps generate the comfortable environment required to aid learning productivity, satisfy the increased demand for hot water and avoid unnecessarily high bills.


But upgrading older school heating systems can be challenging. This is due in part to the age of the buildings, as around 65% were constructed before 1976, and 46% before 1966. In poorly insulated buildings with older systems designed to operate at high flow and return temperatures, retrofitting low carbon technologies is not always straightforward. Limited available space within the plantroom and restricted access bring further complications.


Tight, fixed schedules can also be an issue. School heating refurbishments are traditionally scheduled to take place during the summer holiday period, making this a busy time of year for designers, specifiers and contractors. Added to which, Local Authorities or Trusts will typically plan heating refurbishments across a number of their schools within the same tight timeframe. This then puts pressure on the school maintenance team to squeeze in all the planned replacements.


And the situation is even more complex, in current times, given the need to prioritise tighter onsite COVID-19 safety measures, often while working through a backlog of delayed projects. One rapid, quality means of overcoming all of these hurdles in schools is to use prefabricated heating solutions.


Bespoke, prefabricated heating solutions


Take Remeha’s bespoke, pre-assembled boiler rigs and cascade arrangements which are specially designed to simplify multiple boiler installation. These offsite fabricated heating solutions are effectively mini plant room systems that are custom designed to meet the project and site requirements. Built by the manufacturer in factory facilities, they can include a tailored configuration of boilers, pumps, low loss headers and plate heat exchangers.


The design opportunities are virtually limitless, with options for wall-hung or floor-standing boilers – or even a mix of the two. Ancillary items such as dosing pots and pressurisation units as well as project-specific controls can also be integrated into the design to maximise seasonal efficiency and performance.


The greater flexibility offered by this service makes it easier to meet all school project needs while delivering full assurance that the specification has been met.


Early visualisation


The turnkey prefabricated rig systems are designed by the manufacturer, working with the specifier and contractor, using BIM tools and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) systems. Only once the design is clearly defined does production take place. This is carried out in a factory environment with quality-controlled end of line testing giving added quality assurance. Having early visualisation of the design is particularly useful for schools where boiler replacements need to be approved by a number of stakeholders.


Time savings


The significant time savings also deliver important advantages. The ability to accommodate the unique requirements of the project and the site from the outset allows best use to be made of the available space and avoids onsite snags. As a result, installation is speedy and straightforward


34 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER APRIL 2021


FOCUS: EDUCATIONAL SERVICES Teaching Modules


Where access is constrained, it’s possible to design the bespoke rig so that it can be split into smaller modules, for simple re-connection into a single frame in the plant room.


There’s even the opportunity to match the position and size of the system connections on the rig to the existing pipework in the plant room to enable rapid connection to the system. With ‘plug and play’ solutions like these, installation and commissioning time can be reduced down from weeks to just days. As many Local Authorities have discovered, these time savings are especially beneficial when carrying out a series of school heating replacements during the summer holiday period. What’s more, this approach also provides greater scheduling flexibility as it means that boiler replacement projects no longer need be restricted to the six-week summer holiday period.


Meeting COVID requirements


The benefits of offsite prefabrication are arguably particularly relevant at the current time. By completely removing the need for ‘hot works’ and onsite fabrication related to the boiler assembly, onsite safety is also improved. A further benefit is that fewer workers are needed on site, and for less time, making it easier to meet COVID social distancing guidance.


And with fewer skills also required onsite, it is easier for contractors to plan ahead and put these skills to use on other projects. This in turn enables more projects to be completed in the same timeframe.


Additionally, as the wheeled boiler rig unit comes from one supplier, only one delivery slot is necessary. This makes arranging site access more straightforward, minimising disruption and reducing the possibility of late delivery, all of which helps keep the project on schedule.


Flexible design options


While the technically and economically viable solutions in older, thermally inefficient school buildings remain constrained, replacing large, old, inefficient or failing boiler units with multiple, fully modulating condensing boilers is a cost-effective means of improving conditions for students and teachers while reducing building operating costs. Taking steps now will save emissions sooner. For schools striving to improve the efficiency of their heating, using a prefabricated heating solution such as the bespoke rig system delivers at every stage of the project. Easier adherence to COVID safety measures, greater design flexibility, considerable time savings, increased ease of scheduling, and the certainty of a quality outcome are all reasons why prefabricated solutions are having a moment. With our established expertise in offsite prefabrication, we look forward to supporting consultants and contractors with our bespoke rigs and cascade arrangements to deliver these valuable benefits to schools both during COVID times and beyond.


Remeha is part of Baxi Heating and BDR Thermea Group.


www.remeha.co.uk/products/ accessories/boiler-rig-systems


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