Qualitair overcomes re-furbishment dilemma for high rise office complexes
Eaton-Williams has designed and manufactured customised air conditioning units to replace systems no longer available for prestigious town centre offices in Middlesborough.
'Centre North East' formerly known as Corporation House is one of the town's landmarks and has undergone major refurbishment. The project involved Eaton-Williams providing air conditioning units in three phases for the 17-storey office building. Atkins was the design consultant and project administrator and Quartz Electrical & Mechanical Services carried out the installations.
Centre North East was built in the early 1970s. As was typical of the time air conditioning was a key feature and consisted of in-wall units. Centre North East was no exception with a mix of IMI and AAF in-wall units.
The refurbishment of the building highlighted the aged AAF units. As they are no longer manufactured for European markets and structural changes didn't feature in the refurbishment plans, replacements that could fit into the existing apertures needed to be sourced.
"Many American air conditioning units popular in new builds in the 60s and 70s are no longer manufactured," says Stephen Gillie, Site Manager, Quartz Electrical & Mechanical Services. "As there were to be no changes to the fabric of the building the space left by the old units has to be used. There were no off-the-shelf systems suitable and a customised approach was required."
Finding suitable units that combined cost-effectiveness and energy savings proved challenging as Reg Busby, Project Manager at Atkins explains. "The type of units used was restricted by the original chassis. Sourcing a new and readily available product to fit the existing space wasn't possible."
Tenders specifying the design criteria were invited to replace a total of 360 units over a three-year period. Qualitair put forward a solution that met and addressed the criteria and as a result was awarded the contract to custom design and manufacture the QPC range of packaged in-wall cassettes.
A total of 360 units were manufactured over a three-year period and as the building was partially occupied, was supplied in three-month phases to coincide with each stage of the refurbishment.
The units were supplied fully packaged and charged and were designed so that they could be slid into the existing chassis and then plugged in to provide instantaneous operation. The units are ultra-quiet, feature a fresh air facility that saves energy, uses a standard 230volt 1Ph 50Hz power supply and provides a 3.5Kw cooling capacity.
The project has opened up other opportunities as Peter Dewdney, Marketing Manager for Eaton-Williams describes. "There are many buildings across the country of similar design to Centre North East with aged AAF units. By developing the QPC range, Qualitair is well placed to take advantage of the opportunities and can provide an off-the-shelf solution."