University relies on EWS for specialist HVAC skills
EWS has gone back to University, not as a student but as a supplier of specialist skills to supplement the estates team within the Facilities Directorate at Sheffield’s Hallam University.
Sheffield Hallam is one of the UK’s most progressive universities and
since 1996 over £60 million has been invested in the University’s
Estate.
The Facilities Directorate has overall responsibility for ensuring that the fabric and framework of the university’s sites function for the benefit of students and staff. HVAC facilities are no exception and provide a diverse challenge, spread across several sites.
Although Sheffield Hallam has its own estates team, it relies on EWS to provide specialist refrigeration skills to maximise performance levels of its air conditioning system.
Sheffield Hallam’s is in the city centre but there are two other sites,
Psalter Lane and Collegiate Crescent Campus which also fall into EWS ‘remit.
In addition EWS has a separate contract covering the Students’ Union
that also includes the maintenance of auxiliary equipment such as pumps and
condensers.
EWS has retained the contract with Sheffield Hallam since 1999 and its longevity is testament to the level of service provided.
The vast majority of equipment on site is less than 10 years old, but there are some albeit few pieces of kit that can boast a life span of 30 years. Much of the replacement tends to focus on split systems. As the move away from R22 gains pace the Estates Team will be looking to replace and/or convert existing systems.
EWS provides a PPM service (Planned Preventative Maintenance) which Richard Barker, Head of Estates Services at Sheffield Hallam refers to as a ‘specialist term contract’.
“When the contract was put out to tender, price was not the key driver” says Richard “it was essential to work with a national company whose skill base could supplement our own M&E and HVAC engineers’ expertise”.
“We rely on EWS largely for the air conditioning plant as they have the refrigeration skills. The breadth of kit to be maintained is diverse including very large 300kW chillers” explains Richard.
Most of the buildings are cooled using a chilled water based system and comfort cooling with comfort cooling the main requirement. A close control cooling plant required for the university’s computing and communications facilities. The university’s environmental climatic chamber relies on cooling and humidification and also comes under EWS brief.
The engineers are regularly on site and have set pre-agreed schedules to fulfil. Continuity is key and EWS ensures that the same engineers attend and are site specific so that no time is wasted developing site familiarity.
The HVAC equipment is geared towards occupancy and consequently energy management is turned off over night. Only critical facilities such as the telecommunications and computing facilities are operational 24/7. All plant is scheduled with a defined programme of PPM. Energy management is underpinned by the premise that plant regularly maintained will perform optimally.
As the numbers of students at Sheffield Hallam has expanded, greater cooling capacities were required to deal with the heat loads generated by increased computing facilities, EWS recommended and installed a number of stand alone Edenaire IPAC units. The IPACs offer energy efficiency without compromising functionality. The core structure of the range consists of a fully featured vertical air-handling system that delivers precision air conditioning even in the most demanding environments.
EWS has an extensive portfolio of customers in the public sector which includes NHS Trusts, universities, local authorities and utility companies.
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