AET Flexible Space

The Cathedral Hill campus in Guildford is a conglomerate of three buildings of approximately 1500 sq. m each. AET originally supplied underfloor air conditioning to the 286 sq. m atrium area of Building 1000 in 2001. In 2015, AET supplied like for like equipment to building 1000 as part of a full refurbishment of the space leased by Telecommunications giant, Avaya.

Underfloor air conditioning and Nesite raised access flooring was supplied to this building in the year 2000 as part of a full refurbishment for Japanese developer, Taisei. The building is situated in the heart of Mayfair in a prominent location on the corner of Hanover Street and Pollen Street and features floor to ceiling glazing, granting excellent natural light and a generous 2.7m floor to ceiling height.

1960’s post war building fully refurbished in 2006. The building was enlarged and remodelled with extensions to the basement, ground, first and fifth floors. Underfloor air conditioning and Nesite raised access flooring was installed throughout the 7-storey building offering 26,000 sq. ft. flexible office space for speculative tenancy.

The four storey red brick building dates back to 1905 and originally served as a Royal Mail sorting office. In 2000, the building was converted into office accommodation and occupied by Sainsbury’s as their headquarters. Underfloor air conditioning was specified to overcome restrictive height limitations common in older stock buildings.

Full refurbishment of the severely height restricted building located on a prominent corner position of Devonshire Square. Cundall specified underfloor air conditioning as a solution to enable the main office space to meet BCO floor to ceiling height standards. A system with high level return air was selected, primarily to enable greater future flexibility, but also to remove the need for zone barrier and air segregation baffle in the severely restricted underfloor plenum.

175 Oxford Street was fully refurbished in 2010 and the 2,688 sq. m building comprises retail space and 12,500 sq. ft. speculative Grade-A office accommodation across four floors. 3DReid were responsible for the re-designed space, creating a glass surround linear atrium, allowing the maximum amount of natural light into the office space and exposing the arcuated brick party wall. Underfloor air conditioning permitted full height floor to ceiling glazing to be installed on the upper floors, granting additional light.

Stunning refurbishment of former Edwardian residential mansion block in the heart of London’s West End, the building was transformed from cellular offices into five stories of high class, open plan accommodation. The flexible underfloor HVAC solution allowed a minimum floor plenum of 200mm maximising the floor to ceiling height and post refurbishment, the work space enabled a 35% increase in total occupancy.

Five floors of grade A office space in the centre of Manchester. The refurbishment required a fundamental rethink to transform the building in decline, into a modern sought after commercial space. A new services strategy, using raised access floors and underfloor air distribution allowed the ceilings to be exposed and specific architectural features to be retained, whilst maintaining recommended floor to ceiling heights over the five floors.

The building was extensively redeveloped, stripped back to its original 1960’s shell and core, and re-cladded with floor to ceiling glazing. By incorporating underfloor air conditioning, instead of more traditional ceiling based systems, a floor to ceiling height of 2500 mm within an overall slab to soffit zone of 2800 mm was achieved. The completed refurbishment created 40,000 sq ft of high specification office space which was fully let to a single occupier prior to practical completion.

Completed in December 2020, this redevelopment of an existing five-storey 1950’s office building in the heart of Holborn, includes a single-storey extension to the roof, an extension to the office plate to the rear by 3.5m, and an extensive internal reconfiguration. These renovations have created an additional 8000 sq. ft. of net internal area. For the 20 Red Lion Street redevelopment, there was a strong emphasis on creating, light, airy, and flexible office space. Using AET Flexible Space’s underfloor air conditioning system has allowed the project team to maximise floor to ceiling heights, natural light, and the adaptability of the office space. Working closely with M&E consultants, The GDM Partnership, AET’s CAM-C (floor supply, low level return) underfloor air conditioning system was specified to serve the newly built sixth floor. To ensure floor to ceiling heights were maximised a 200mm high raised access floor was installed within which AET’s unique TU350 slim line Fantiles™ were installed. Due to the proximity of the CAM unit to the exterior of the building, a perimeter return air path was used to maximise the supply air path. The sixth floor is glazed on three sides, meaning that solar gain was high, and that maximum air supply was needed to effectively regulate the temperature of the space. The C-35 Conditioned Air Module (CAM) is fed by an externally located, high efficiency heat pump which enables it to produce cool and warm air as and when required. The floor void is divided into supply and return air channels. Conditioned air is introduced into the space by the, floor recessed, Fantile™ units with spent, room air, drawn back to the CAM unit via passive, return grilles, which are also installed within the raised access floor. Fresh air is ducted into the return air path from a centralised air handling unit where it mixes with the room air, filtered and reconditioned helping the system to achieve high standards of indoor air quality. The newly built sections, including the bright and airy sixth floor office space, at 20 Red Lion Street has received an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating. Investor / Client / Developer – Mayfair Capital Architect – ORMS Quantity Surveyor – Doig+Smith M&E Consultant – The GDM Partnership Main Contractor – Orhcard Group M&E Contractor – Michael J Lonsdale

Neo-classical building with a stunning Portland stone façade and colonnade. The underfloor system features on seven floors of the eight-storey building. The system is a CAM-C Direct Expansion system with supply and return air distributed via the floor plenum. The Fantiles are standard TU4 fan terminals with EC motors. Instead of a rooftop chiller providing chilled water, the building uses heat pump units to maximise use of space and energy efficiency. The project was delivered as a ‘Shell and Floor’ development to allow the incoming tenant to complete the fit out works to their own requirements.

AET Flexible Space was specified to supply its innovative CAM-V underfloor air conditioning (UfAC) system for the refurbishment of 24 St James’s Square, completed in early 2020. The design brief was to maximise floor-to-ceiling heights and enhance the double aspect interior. One of the key challenges was the need to preserve key architectural features, whilst at the same time providing, flexible, modern, premium office space. These needs could not have been met using a conventional overhead system, which would have taken up valuable headroom and created awkward junctions where window heads met suspended ceiling grids or exposed services. Using an underfloor air conditioning system enabled the architects, BLDA, to eliminate ceiling-based services allowing for a plasterboard ceiling to be installed tight against the soffit and down stand beams. Thanks to the AET system, key architectural elements of the building were preserved, as well as increasing natural light levels and enhancing the striking double-aspect interior. “The AET downflow units promptly stood out as the obvious candidate for several reasons, including having the absolute minimum requirement for floor void height, and offering excellent distribution of cooling, heating and ventilation evenly across the whole floor whilst reducing energy consumption.” – M&E Consultant, Vic Holloway (Edward Pearce LLP). AET’s UfAC system’s make use of the space beneath a raised access floor to create a ventilation path, eliminating the need for ceiling-based mechanical services helping to maximising the floor to ceiling heights creating a brighter and more and airy office environment. A mix of CAM-V22 & 33 units were installed across the eight floors of office space. Roof mounted high efficiency heat pump units serve the refrigerant coils in each CAM’s. Conditioned air is delivered into the space via AET’s market leading TU350 slimline Fantile™ units which sit 160mm within the floor void. To avoid unwanted grilles at high-level AET designed bespoke floor extract grilles that look identical to a Fantile™ units, to allow room air to be extracted directly from the floor void enabling the interior aesthetic to remain consistent and simplify duct routes within the buildings core. Common complaints from staff, prior to the refurbishment, were variations in temperature across the office space, high level cold draughts and a lack of natural daylight light. An UfAC solution however, provides greater individual control of localised temperature, unobtrusive movement of air and makes for a more comfortable, brighter working environment. The 24 St James’s Square project has already won the “Best Office Architecture London” award at the 2019 International Property Awards and has now very recently been awarded ‘Retrofit Project of the Year’ at the H&V News Awards 2020. The building is being let as Grade A office space by BNP Paribas Real Estate who advised the developer, Misland Capital, to consider AET’s system’s based on their positive experience with 28 Saville Row which AET completed in 2014. Developer – Misland Capital Architect – BLDA Architects M&E Consultant – Edward Pearce LLP Quantity Surveyor – Bank Woods & Partners Main Contractor – Cheevers Howard M&E Contractor – RSE M&E Services Letting Agent – BNP Paribas

Underfloor air conditioning and a bespoke Teak covered raised access floor by Nesite was specified for the height restricted redevelopment of this prestigious Mayfair accommodation. The works comprised a full internal strip out to the core, demolition of structural partition walls, removal of redundant mechanical and electrical services and plant, removal and re-cladding of the facade, installation of new M&E services, plant and lift.

The unusually shaped building features a Grade II Listed façade and is located in a prominent position looking over Regent Street and the Soho area of the West End. The recent refurbishment by Hermes Investment Management has created fabulous commercial work space in this prime London location. The system specified for floors 3, 4 and 5 at 33 Glasshouse Street is a CAM-C Direct Expansion system with supply and return air distributed via the floor plenum and a floor to ceiling height of 3.3m has been achieved by eliminating the ceiling void.

The 146,000 sq.ft. Grade II listed building, designed by architects Mewes and Davis was constructed in 1926 as a purpose built headquarters for National Westminster Bank and features a Portland Stone façade, interior columns, marble floors and walls. Fully redeveloped in 2004, the building offers a blend of contemporary office accommodation with historical period features. The adoption of underfloor air conditioning permits designers the freedom to retain ceiling features of special architectural interest and full height glazing is also unrestricted.

42 Berners Street is the result of a full demolition and redevelopment of two town houses at the prestigious Fitzrovia address. Architect, Buckley Gray Yeoman specified underfloor air conditioning as a means to maximise internal floor to ceiling height, and the final design achieved an extra floor but still within planning constraints. The design brief also stipulated a “flexible building” and to maximise the available lettable space.

Mixed use, eight storey building constructed in 2008, consisting of residential units, retail space and six floors of speculative office space. The 2,000 sq. m development features an award winning Terre Doree brick façade. The building is served by two large interlocking AHU’s via supply and extract ductwork in vertical risers and the office areas on floors 1 – 6 each have approximately 12 TU4 Fantiles which introduce supply air into the workspace.

The 16,311 sq ft building on Warwick Street has been stripped back to the core and has undergone a full redevelopment, including redesigned windows and a vibrant green brick façade to grant more architectural definition and visual interest from the street. Office accommodation featuring underfloor air conditioning has been created on floors 1-4. As a speculative office development, the high level return air option was preferred due to the ease of positioning Fantiles for future tenants as there is no underfloor segregation in the plenum.

London & Regional Properties proposed an engineering led solution to avoid demolishing the 1950’s landmark building, which had restricted floor layout unattractive to commercial clients. The existing concrete frame was retained and new frames and facade were inserted creating a visually stunning entrance as well as additional space. The redevelopment resulted in a 30% increase of the total floor area and offers a variety of quality office accommodation with a top specification fit out. Winner of the 2009 BCO Award for Best Refurbished / Recycled Workspace (London & the South East)

7 Soho Square was retained and refurbished by Land Securities as a flagship scheme and the former Art Deco building was vertically extended with a glass pavilion roof. The Art Deco ceilings were left exposed creating opportunity for air conditioning and services designed to suit the functionality of the space.

Originally constructed in 1957, and standing at 36.8 m, the tired high-rise office block adjacent to Waterloo station was transformed with a series of extensions, new façade cladding and new plant and services, including underfloor air conditioning. The extensive refurbishment completed in 2009 included extensions to the lower level floor plates and ten floors now have air-conditioned office accommodation.

Due to its period architecture style and prominent corner location there were a number of design challenges to be overcome in order to attain full air conditioned office status for speculative open plan offices, for example, the building featured unique structural elements around the columns in addition to the floorplate configuration. In particularly shallow areas where the floor void was less than 200mm, the latest TUS-EC slimline Fantile units were installed allowing a minimum floor to ceiling height of 2.6 m to be maintained on all five office floors.

This dramatic refurbishment, designed by Buckley Gray Yeoman architects on behalf of Kajima Properties, provides stylish, high quality office space in the heart of London, directly overlooking Coleman Street Gardens and less than a minute’s walk from the new Elizabeth Line station at Moorgate. AET Flexible Space worked closely with M&E consultant, The GDM Partnership, and Architects Buckley Gray Yeoman for well over three years on the application and specification of their market-leading under floor air conditioning systems before receiving the official order from the appointed M&E Contractor, Designer Group. AET was invited to present directly to the Kajima Properties development team and Property Managers, to reaffirm that their UfAC systems would deliver to the high standards set out for Kajima’s first venture into the London property market. The Kajima team were incredibly impressed by the capabilities of the AET system, and green-lighted its use on floors 1 to 7 of 77 Coleman Street. AET’s strong working relationships with both The GDM Partnership and Buckley Gray Yeoman were instrumental in defining the specification of their CAM-V system. The AET system offered an outstanding level of design freedom not achieved with ceiling-based systems. As a result of hiding the building mechanical services air within the existing 270mm floor void, key architectural design features such as the unique terrazzo-patterned soffit, could be preserved and highlighted to full effect within the interior aesthetic. The AET UfAC system has also been instrumental in gaining unusually high floor to ceiling heights, creating a far brighter, more open, and inviting office environment. Finally, the modular design and installation of the AET system offers prospective tenants a truly adaptable and flexible air conditioning solution, significantly reducing CAT-B fit out timescales and costs. Upon competition, AET’s CAM-V air conditioning system will have been installed on floors 1 to 7, utilising high-efficiency, roof-mounted heat pump units. Each floor is served by 4 CAM units, and conditioned air is fed into the space via 48 floor-recessed TU4 Fantile™ fan terminal units. AET’s unique Fantile™ units work to eliminate cold drafts for high level, as well as providing superior end user comfort and control. Completion of this building is expected in early summer 2020. Investor/Developer – Kajima Properties Architect – Buckley Gray Yeoman M&E Consultant – The GDM Partnership Quantity Surveyor – Exigere Main Contractor – Volker Fitzpatrick M&E Contractor – Designer Group

This historic building in Clerkenwell was constructed in 1882 as the London premises of Lincolnshire engineering firm, Marshall Sons & Co, inspiring the recently building name, “The Bondworks”. In 2007, a full refurbishment was completed incorporating an underfloor air conditioning system. In 2018, a further refurbishment was completed and the building now offers six floors of warehouse style accommodation, featuring exposed brickwork walls and optimum natural light due to the prominent corner position. AET Flexible Space supplied upgraded controls and new Fantiles for the speculative Category-A accommodation.

Fabulous Edwardian building with a Grade II listed Portland Stone façade. A full refurbishment including structural reconfiguration to the central core and installation of new HVAC services, creating 3000 sq m of prime office space in the St James’ area of London. Both the client and Architect requested a clean finish with no services at high level to allow the decorative feature plasterwork in the ceiling to be exposed, underfloor air conditioning was subsequently specified by consultant Watkins Payne Partnership for four of the seven floors.

Completed in 2001, the total area is 37,000 sq m, with five floors comprising offices, a cafe and internal and external garden areas. Underfloor air conditioning was specified for the project for its energy efficient operation and contribution towards the Green Building design. Adopting an underfloor solution allowed the elimination of the ceiling void and the introduction of cotton sails to enhance the thermal mass from the concrete downstand beams.

The development is one of the most modern office centres in Riga, refurbished in 2009 to A-class standards. The building of 16,000 sq m comprises six floors of offices and a multi-level underground car park. Latvia is well known for its fluctuating weather conditions and the underfloor air conditioning system was specified to provide heating and cooling for the building due to its ability to cope with these fluctuating demands, whilst maintaining optimum low energy performance. Awarded most Energy Efficient and Most Sustainable Building in Latvia 2011

Bankside Studios was completed in October 2001. A full refurbishment unifying three separate buildings over a continuous stone base with the main design feature being the canting out of the two upper floors over the street in increasing degrees. The six floors offer a total of 3,900 sq. m office space with underfloor air conditioning installed throughout.

The 2008 development created 52,000 sq ft speculative office space, with additional studios and an onsite café. The exposed concrete soffit creates a thermal buffer with suspended up and down lighting granting a crisp clean space and underfloor air conditioning allows for total flexibility for future provision and subdivision.

Blackheath High School, an independent day school for girls and part of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) network, recently invested £18 million to provide new state of the art facilities including a new library and resource centre. The project involved the design and construction of a three storey new build, aesthetically designed to blend with the existing Victorian structure.  The library and resource centre are located in the lower ground floor, sunk beneath the existing site and the new courtyard area. Air conditioning was required for the underground resource centre and an underfloor system was specified so that the ceiling space, featuring the unique pyramidal skylights, could be left exposed.  A single CAM-V33 Direct Expansion downflow unit serves the air conditioned zone and conditioned air is supplied into the space by 14 TU4 Fantiles.  The CAM-V receives spent air back for re-conditioning via high level transfer grilles.  A major challenge with this project was the 900mm high underfloor void within the main resource area, requiring special modification to the CAM baseframe and raised floor substructure. Architect – Ellis Williams Architects Main Contractor – Rooff Limited M&E Consultant – Hilson Moran M&E Contractor – Brith Services

123 TU4 Fantile units were supplied for the BMW office areas to enhance air conditioning performance. The Fantile system was chosen due its’ flexibility, ease of installation and efficient air distribution, as well as the ability to maximise headroom in the workspace. The Fantile system is connected to the BMS using an AET Flexgateway module.

The 13,766 sq m building offers large flexible floor plates and an impressive four storey atrium and double height entrance hall. Extensive perimeter glazing grants a high level of natural day lighting and panoramic views. Underfloor air conditioning was specified for the upper three floors of the IQ building occupied by energy giant Centrica. The project highlights the speed and ease of installation capability of underfloor systems; only three months passing from enquiry to order.

Underfloor air conditioning was supplied to create a high level of air conditioned comfort for this height restricted, densely occupied building. CAM-C units were adapted specifically for this project as the client required return air at high level, but was unable to adopt the CAM-V system due to noise levels exceeding the specification and no room to install a silencer unit. The CAM's were also enclosed in custom built stainless steel cabinets.

The Daman Tower is an impressive tower is located within the Dubai International Finance Centre and features fifteen floors of Grade-A office accommodation. Completed in 2013, the L-shaped block comprises two buildings of different height intersecting and overlapping each other. Offering one of the largest floor plates in the UAE, the unique design with virtually no columns offers highly efficient layouts and space utilisation.

The final project of a series of buildings commissioned by airports developer BAA Lynton and reviewed under the Egan initiative, Endeavour house is a replica of the First Point building at Gatwick airport and of the World Business Centre at Heathrow. BAA Lynton were able to save 15% costs and 25% on construction time compared with the construction of the initial building WBC, and, as planning was based on building volume, by adopting underfloor air conditioning at First Point and Endeavour house, the slab to slab height saving permitted the creation of an additional floor in the subsequent two buildings.

TAG Aviation Development at Farnborough Airfield. The underfloor air conditioning system was jointly specified by the Architect and Consultant due to its flexibility, ease of installation and design freedom that the system allows. The system was praised by the architect as it is able to be retrofitted to existing plant structure, and as a result they were able to absorb late fit out amendments into the programme without major plant reconfiguration. The site has won multiple Architecture and Aviation service awards.