Air
Handling Units 
Fläkt Woods - Green office attains highest ever BREEAM rating
Fläkt Woods has helped to meet the exacting
ventilation demands of Britain’s greenest building, the Innovate
Green Office, Leeds, which has attained outstanding
environmental credentials including the accolade of the building
with the highest ever BREEAM score.
Working for the Nottingham & Ossett based M&E contractor,
Goodmarriott & Hursthouse Ltd, Fläkt Woods has supplied mounted
EC2000 air handling units with thermal wheels. These were
installed in the building together with heating and cooling
coils, low set point face velocity fans and pre wired inverters.
Designed by Cardiff-based Rio Architects, the project at Thorpe
Park Business Park has a BREEAM rating of 87.55 % – the highest
ever given to a building of any kind in the UK. The 4,500 sq m
scheme is designed around an atrium street that divides the two
office wings and allows maximum daylight penetration to the
offices.
A combined heat and power system assists with heating the
building during winter and provides comfort cooling through an
Absorbtion chiller in the summer. Ventilation is supplied via
TermoDeck hollowcore concrete, using the thermal mass of the
building for storage. The building has a recycled concrete
frame, a sedum roof and a rainwater harvesting system.
Fläkt Woods has developed a number of advanced features on the
EC2000 to enhance energy efficiency and provide a rapid payback
on investment. Each EC compact unit saves space and time. Supply
and exhaust air functionality is contained within the same
casing which is built on the same design platform as the modular
unit. Units were delivered complete with an integrated control
system.
The thermal wheels will recover up to 90% (typically 75-85%) of
the energy in the extract air. As the extract air passes through
the wheel, the warmth or ‘coolth’ transfers into the thermal
mass of the wheel. As the wheel turns, it moves into the supply
side where the supply air picks up the energy. A range of air
terminal devices has been supplied that, when combined with a
patented VCD, are up to 9dBA quieter than most other mixing
systems.
The £5.5 million office is fitted with a control system which
allows the chiller to run overnight to store cooling in the
thermal mass which can be drawn on during the day. Annual
emissions from the building are predicted to be over 80% less
than for a typical office-park building, saving over 350 tonnes
of CO2 a year.
The building was awarded maximum marks in a number of
categories, including the management of the building during the
construction process as well as the on-going management of the
since its completion, all of which has contributed to the health
and well-being of the occupants of the buildings.
“We were stepping into the unknown when we initiated the
development of Innovate Office Leeds,” said Stephen Dargavel,
Joint Managing Director of Innovate Holdings Ltd. “However, the
fantastic score given to us by the Building Research
Establishment has reinforced our vision of combining cutting
edge environmental considerations with a business environment
that is second to none.”
“Thanks to Fläkt Wood’s award winning products, the project team
was able to include a fresh design approach. An engineering
design exercise, led by King Shaw Associates, produced an
environmentally friendly and commercially sustainable prototype
building design which was then applied to the specific plot at
Thorpe Park” says Craig MacFadyen, Business Development Manager
at Fläkt Woods.
Email:
info.uk@flaktwoods.com