JS Air Curtains 'at home' in John Lewis

Leading retailer John Lewis has selected JS Air Curtains as its air curtain supplier for four new build ‘at home’ shops. The four recently opened shops all have Zen air curtains from JS helping to maintain a consistent and comfortable temperature for customers and staff. The air curtains also minimise the energy consumption of the stores’ heating and cooling systems by preventing cold air entering during the winter and warm air during the summer.

The John Lewis ‘at home’ shops typically offer 40,000 sq ft of retail space, selling everything required to turn a house into a home. The new ‘at home’ shops at Tamworth, Chester, Chichester and Newbury each feature totally white Zen air curtains above their main entrances and, in some shops, additionally above their customer collect entrance.

“Our specification included both high performance and critical environmental requirements. We also needed the air curtains to fit seamlessly with security curtains that sit above the entrances, to blend in with the décor of the stores,” explained Stuart Watson, Engineering Manager for John Lewis. “Our M&E consultants suggested JS’ Zen air curtain because the range was diverse and flexible, and could provide the ideal model in each case to meet the differing conditions at the four stores. Whilst some appliances have only just been installed, the first ones have been operating for a year now, successfully meeting our design criteria with no operational issues.”

The Zen is part of JS Air Curtains’ Designer Range and is decorative with a contemporary architectural style. Smart and minimalistic, the unit can be fitted with bespoke fascia panels of different materials and any RAL colour, and also carry signage, branding or even elements such as clocks.

The air curtain comes with anodized aluminium covers and a black inner section as standard but the units selected by John Lewis had totally white covers and inner sections, seamlessly tying-in with the white interior design of the stores’ entrances.

The Zen is offered with electric or water heaters and as a non-heated, air only model. The discharge vents have airfoil shaped vanes to direct the airflow creating a tighter seal across a doorway. Low noise, double inlet centrifugal fans with external rotor motors can provide up to 2,775m³/h of airflow per metre of air curtain making the Zen ideal for doorways up to 3.5m high.