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Gilberts helps deliver net zero in Newcastle

 

Leading air movement specialist Gilberts Blackpool has played a key role in helping the new Callerton Academy in Newcastle achieve carbon neutral status.

The £39m new school has capacity for 1400 pupils over its campus of a three-storey teaching building and adjoining dedicated sports facility.

Designed and built to ‘fabric first’ principles, Callerton Academy features diverse green building services technologies designed to achieve NZCIO (net zero carbon in operation). The sustainable technologies include cross ventilation designed and engineered by Gilberts, a green roof, photovoltaic panels and an air heat source pump.

Leybourne Urwin building services engineers working for TGA Consulting Engineers and principal contractor Morgan Sindall had the task of delivering the sustainable goals. Leybourne Urwin chose Gilberts for the air movement specialist’s technical ability to answer the scheme’s challenges of balancing intense energy usage with net zero operation.

Gilberts’ Mistrale Fusion Deo MFS-HR stand-alone hybrid ventilation with heat recovery units and Mistrale 75 passive natural ventilation units now feature across the building’s facades.

With its high heat recovery capability which out-performs any similar units on the market, the MFS-HR system ensures airflow into and out of the teaching spaces and administration offices is in line with latest Department for Education (DfE) criteria. Simultaneously, MFS-HR optimises heat extraction from the exhaust/used air thus reducing energy requirement for maintaining the optimal internal temperature.

MFS-HR’s performance is proven to reduce the ventilation energy required by up to 20%, and to reduce the heat pump size and photovoltaic panel requirement by 7%. MFS-HR replaces alternative mechanical ventilation plant. It is also best in class for thermal performance (<1.0W/m2K), air tightness and air leakage (<3m3/hr/m2). Its combined benefits thus also positively impact build costs, reduce building services plant and cut weight loading on the roof.

By designing the teaching spaces to include both the hybrid ventilation with heat recovery MFS-HR and natural ventilation Mistrale 75s, the little fan energy used by the ventilation systems could be even further reduced: when outdoor temperatures and conditions were suitable, dampers on the Mistrale 75 open to optimise natural- and therefore free/zero energy- air movement.

Gilberts natural ventilation penthouse louvre units have been installed on the green roof of the main building. The penthouses service air to upper floor classrooms, with each air movement unit featuring an acoustic damper to control exhaust flow rate from each teaching space according to conditional requirements.

Gilberts penthouse roof ventilation terminals use physics to naturally harness air movement, drawing warm air from internal spaces such as corridors, stairwells and the sports hall via the stack effect and replacing it with fresh air from outside. No energy is required.

To address the specific project requirements, Gilberts engineered modifications to the standard penthouse design, including special access panels at drawing stage, facilitating the build process.

Explained Director at Leybourne Urwin Keiron Bennett:

“Callerton Academy sets a standard for future school construction. A school of its size requires intense energy usage- typically 35-50W/m2. To be as low carbon as possible, this necessitated on site energy generation and optimisation of every opportunity to cut energy wastage.

“We undertook in-depth analysis of products on the market in developing the strategy for Callerton Academy. Gilberts was the clear leader in terms of performance and quality. Its team gave us invaluable support throughout the design and construction, on paper helping us meet the NZCIO challenge.”

Gilberts’ Mistrale Fusion Deo MFS-HR is fast becoming the chosen hybrid ventilation with heat recovery system in non-domestic environments. Since its launch less than two years ago, it has exceeded sales targets by 250+% and been short-listed for two industry awards.

Gilberts’ natural ventilation has long been at the forefront of zero-energy ventilation solutions, building on Gilberts’ reputation for British engineering innovation, built over 60 years.

Gilberts continues to lead the way in sustainable ventilation, setting new standards for future educational and commercial projects at its 140,000 sq ft head office and production facility.

CLICK HERE for details of Gilberts’ natural and hybrid ventilation systems

 

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Partnership delivers sustainable, viable multi-site solution

BAM Construction is progressing with a £67m framework to build a batch of secondary schools in the North-East, won in part through its collaboration with Gilberts Blackpool.

The four schools will all be ventilated using Gilberts’ innovative MFS unit, which pioneered the concept of hybrid ventilation in multi-occupancy rooms such as classrooms- a concept recognised as a valid strategy by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

Crucial to the deal was the partnership between BAM and Gilberts, to evolve the core MFS unit to create a solution that was standardised as far as possible, and simplified the building’s construction and operation.

Explained Martin Sibley, operations manager services engineering North East BAM Construction, “The ESFA has key requirements of affordability, and specifies design replication and repetition to achieve this. It further demands that the M&E specification is simplified, particularly regarding building controls, yet the ventilation strategy is robust. Our collaboration with Gilberts proved invaluable in achieving a commercially viable alternative to conventional heating and ventilating strategies.”

“It sounds simple,” Martin adds, “but ensuring details like the louvre connection spigot being the right depth to allow building activities such as plastering and decorating the window reveals to be carried out once the louvre had been fitted, is very important to the overall build process. Things like this can only be achieved with a collaborative approach to product design.”

Added Roy Jones, Gilberts’ Technical Director, “Our MFS had already been used as the preferred offering in other school batches, because of its performance and simplified installation. By collaborating together we have been able to address the challenges of each site and building variation, to enhance our existing product so that it delivers the stringent requirements in cost, performance, ease of installation and standardisation, to benefit this and future projects.”

Thus, a single MFS256 with LTHW coil and boost facility will feature as part of the window in the external façade of each classroom to ensure the teaching space is ventilated and heated as a stand-alone solution.

Standardisation of the architectural detailing of each window means a standard MFS256 can be used across all the school batches, reducing costs and simplifying installation. The strategic positioning of each unit ensures the wall and ceiling achieve the coanda effect to provide the correct air movement and comfort conditions.

Inclusion of the heat coil obviates the need for radiators, and, with the collaboration with BAM, has been engineered to be easy to access for cleaning. The boost facility on the controller gives teachers finite control, by providing up to double the air volume to provide rapid heating or purge ventilation, as necessary, at the touch of a button.

For specialised areas such as IT suites and science laboratories, Gilberts has refined the controls of the MFS to create a standard product that can cope with the more specific demands – fume cupboard interlocks/ overrides and gas interlocks- in science rooms.

As part of the process refining the core MFS into a standard solution, BAM and Gilberts worked closely together, with practical experience from previous schemes, to fine tune the unit controls, the design of which Gilberts ratified in its in-house test laboratory. The testing proved the final solution with no 10degreeC limit on supply air, inclusion of the LTHW coil and boost facility delivered sufficient capability to meet all the requirements of the ESFA’s output specification, and was robust enough to provide comfortable conditions rapidly.

Installed through the external façade or window, Mistrale MFS mixes internal and external air to ventilate the internal space. A mixing damper within modulates airflow to allow the new, fresh air to mix with the warm exhaust air, thus extracting its heat without the need for an exchanger. The integrated low energy fan energises to blend the internal air, ensuring an even distribution of airflow, with control over temperature and CO2 levels within, and maintenance of a comfortable internal environment for occupants. Each unit also achieves relevant acoustic considerations: its operational ‘noise’ is less than 30dbA, and it has been engineered to absorb external noise to keep within the classroom criteria required by BB93.

Gilberts has further taken care to attain compliance with Building Regulations Approved Document L: Mistrale MFS attains air leakage better than legislative requirements- 5m3/HR/m2, and a U value of 1W/m2/°C. As with all Gilberts’ ventilation solutions, it delivers efficient weather performance via its bespoke louvre system, achieving class A performance at 2m/s face velocity, to EN13030 Part 1.

Gilberts’ calculations indicate MFS delivers optimum internal air control and quality for less than £5/room/pa running costs.

MFS is just part of Gilberts’ range of ventilation solutions that have established it as Britain’s leading independent air movement specialist in commercial applications.

Founded 50+ years ago, privately owned Gilberts is unique in having its own, on-site (85,000ft2) manufacturing facility, producing engineered solutions, with an in-house test centre. Technical expertise is supported with full in-house testing addressing air movement and combining with computational fluid dynamics CFD).

For further information please contact Gilberts on Tel: 01253 766911 Email: info@gilbertsblackpool.com Website: www.gilbertsblackpool.com
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