"air handling units"

ChallengeThe project, at Winston Court in North Walsham, is organised by Benjamin’s Building Company, part of The Benjamin Foundation. Benjamin’s Building Company is a social enterprise that works to create homes, training and employment opportunities for vulnerable people. The ambitious venture will see the development of four, self-contained accommodation units. Seeking help in this task, The Benjamin Foundation turned to CRASH for assistance in locating suppliers and materials.SolutionKnauf Insulation donated 24 rolls of 150mm Loft Roll insulation, 48 rolls of 140mm Rafter Roll 40 and 72 rolls of 110mm FrameTherm® 32 for the project. These glass mineral wool insulation products are extremely easy to handle and install, being lightweight and easily cut to size, benefiting the large project.BenefitsBy its nature, Loft Roll is non- combustible and classified as Euroclass A1 to BS EN ISO 13501-1, a crucial requirement to any public building. Additionally, Loft Roll insulation has been manufactured with ECOSE® Technology which delivers superior environmental performance, as the binder technology is up to 70 per cent less energy intensive than traditional binders. The technology has been developed for Knauf Insulation’s glass and rock mineral wool products, enhancing their environmental credentials without affecting the thermal, acoustic or fire performance. Insulation products made with ECOSE® Technology contain no dye or artificial colours – the colour is completely natural.

The £350m regeneration of Centre Point was one of the most significant developments in London in recent times. Built in the 1960s by R. Seifert and Partners, it was one the UK’s first skyscrapers and an icon of the capital’s skyline for half a century. In more recent times, the Grade II listed Modernist masterpiece had gone from vibrant commercial hub to a disused shell. In 2015, development firm Almacantar acquired Centrpoint and undertook a regeneration project developing a mixed-use space, featuring 82 luxurious apartments set neatly above the West End of London.Architect Conran and Partners was appointed to deliver the vision of a luxurious modern residence, while respecting the building’s iconic heritage and design. For such a high-profile project, every component had to be high quality, but also sensitively selected or designed from scratch to fit with the Modernist architectural theme.Allgood managed the specification, development and delivery of the near £1 million ironmongery and hardware requirements, with many bespoke elements and high specification finishes; the five-year project is among the largest ironmongery projects in the UK.Every element of the project’s architectural hardware, including handles for the main entrance and interior doors, escutcheons, thumb turns and releases, wardrobe pulls and shower door handles, was individually designed to construct a coherent and original aesthetic.Taking visual cues from the building’s 1960’s geometric patterning and monochromatic styling, the bespoke, high-specification ironmongery comprised: 800 handles, 1000 locks, 500 sets of levers, 900 wardrobe pulls and 180 shower-door pulls; all custom-made by Allgood at its manufacturing facility in Birmingham.Winner of the residential category at the 2019 AI Specification Awards, Centre Point remains a classic example of beauty in every detail and a case study in how to run a specification. Of the many bespoke pieces, Allgood designed and manufactured back-to-back pad handles for internal corridor doors. These were made from mirror polished nickel with an unusually high standard of polishing applied to all surfaces, even on the reverse.Allgood also collaborated with Samuel Heath to design and manufacture a bespoke door lever that was conceived to reflect the famous geometric architecture of the building. Allgood’s hidden fixings completed an elegant, sleek finish, perfectly complementing the apartments’ luxurious feel.

Another housing refurbishment is set to benefit from the high-performance Roofshield breather membrane. The world-renowned Roofshield membrane from the A. Proctor Group has long been recognised as a first-class roofing membrane solution, providing a pitched roof underlay that is air and vapour permeable.Specialist roofing company S & J Roofing in Bath has been providing roofing services since 1981 and has established a reputation for high-quality roofing work for all kinds of domestic and commercial works, from restoration to complete new re-roofs down to minor repairs.Naomi Richards of S & J Roofing commented, “we have used Roofshield on many of our projects, Roofshield will always be our number one go-to product. Using Roofshield leads to savings in both labour and material costs, keeping the installation team and customers happy. Roofshield was the most cost-effective solution to control the interstitial condensation in a pitched roof. Roofshield is the most reliable product on the market, so it is used on every one of our projects.”Roofshield is a unique, three-layer, nonwoven, spunbonded, polypropylene breather membrane with a patented melt-blown core, and it provides a secondary barrier to the ingress of rain, wind, and snow. Designed with a low vapour resistance, it is air-permeable, with the additional benefit that it eliminates the incidence of interstitial condensation in pitched roofs.The exceptional performance of Roofshield has been successfully incorporated in many of the most demanding locations worldwide. Its characteristics allow pitched roofs to breathe without needing air gaps or secondary venting. Its patented SMS (Spunbond Meltblown Spunbond) structure allows high levels of airflow and the transport of moisture vapour, making the formation of condensation in the roof space virtually impossible. Numerous vapour underlays use an airtight VP film layer to achieve their performance. However, the exceptionally high vapour permeability and air permeability of Roofshield means that it can perform in conditions in which air-tight alternatives will not.The exceptional air permeability performance of Roofshield means that the roof space will result in similar air changes to that of a roof using traditional eaves/ ridge ventilation. Therefore, another advantage of incorporating Roofshield into the roofing design is that it can lead to savings in labour and material costs due to removing the need for these vents as well as a separate VCL at ceiling level.

The refurbishment of the dementia ward at Leighton Hospital in Crewe to deliver a softer, friendlier, more relaxed and less clinical looking environment that patients will be able to move around more easily. Axis was asked to supply and install doors to four bed bays, in different colours and with contrasting-coloured handles, to support the care and therapy the hospital gives dementia patients.

Artform Urban Furniture was appointed by Sager House (Almeida) to provide seating and cycle parking to a mixed-use community space in Islington, North London.Hidden behind an Edwardian façade of a former postal sorting office, Islington Square has been over a decade and a half in the making after the plot was initially bought in 2003 by Developers Cain International. After years of careful planning and construction, the site is now complete and comprises of independent retail units, restaurants, galleries, event spaces, a cinema, and 263 new flats.The intention of the project was to bring variety back to the high street and as well as the boutique shops, unique retailers and events spaces this consideration was echoed in the choice of street furniture. A selection of our stone seating and planter elements have been supplied to the site that feature distinctive designs to stand out. The Up Bench is a sculptural and modular bench, manufactured from a binding compound of granite that has been bush hammered and treated against deterioration. Inslington Square features combined runs of Up benches that create snaking blocks of social seating.The Arrowhead range of benches and planters are dotted around the space bringing natural colour as well as further social seating opportunities. These curvaceous monolith-shaped units offer a low-maintenance and resilient alternative to traditional street furniture. Their weight and mass also allow their placement to be considered in terms of building pedestrian protection from vehicles.Finally, considerations for cycling visitors and residents have been met with a selection of our premium cycle stands. The Ride Cycle Stand features concealed connections and discreet leveling glides to make the stand appear balanced in air. The cast aluminium flat ribbon frame marks it as a member of the Metro40 family of street furniture. 25 Units were supplied which provide great bicycle support with the capability for attachment at two points and holds two bicycles creating parking space for up to 50 bikes. Islington Square is an inclusive, pedestrian-friendly hub that sits at the heart of the surrounding community and brings something different to both residents and visitors.

The challengeSome of the venues had mixed conventional warm air hand dryers varying from 2kw to 2.5kw rated power with 30 to 45 second drying cycles. Some units were manual operation so continued to use energy while not in use. Typical energy consumption was 20 to 30 watt-hours per dry.“The Turboforce were selected because of their high energy efficiency, the units have been well received in all our sites and the upgrade has massively improved the perception of our washroom facilities and cut energy use by 90% compared to our previous hand dryers”S.Midgley - Deputy Head of Estates, Sheffield City TrustWho are Sheffield City Trust?It was established in 1990 with a mission to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of Sheffield. It manages the venues that were built for the 1991 World Student Games and has acquired many more since. It has millions of people through its doors each year with over 15 sport, leisure and entertainment venues under the Sheffield City Trust umbrella.The solutionEnergy efficient, high speed Turboforce hand dryers were installed. All units start immediately when hands are placed under and stop as soon as they are removed. Typical energy consumption is 2.33 to 5.33 watt-hours per dry.Model: Dryflow TurboforceDry time range: 10-15 secondsRated power: 350W – 1600W (4 settings available)Guarantee length: 5 yearsThe results“IFS carried out a comprehensive site survey of all our facilities which highlighted the inefficiency of the current hand dryers. They had an excellent range of hand dryers designed to suit the rigours of intense use and were even able to make technical adjustments to the product to specifically meet our requirements.” S.Midgley - Deputy Head of Estates, Sheffield City TrustThe total project was calculated to cost £38,000 and deliver a £10,000 per annum saving, (3.8 year payback period). Total CO2 reduction was calculated at 51 tCO2e perannum.

Heathrow Airport is the UK’s largest and busiest airport connecting the UK to over 80 long haul destinations and flying over 80 million passengers worldwide. Project/doors: Hart has over installed over 280 doors across all terminals including high speed smoke screens, fire conveyor shutters, security shutters, internal and external high speed doors, insulated fast action doors, sectional doors and pedestrian doors.The challenge Terminal 5 baggage handling system serves around 32 million passengers per year and handles around 6000 bags per hour.  Hart were asked to design, manufacture and install a specialist and unique automatic smoke screen system capable of handling over 6000 bags per hour, while providing a seal for 30 minutes in the event of fire. The solution Hart were the only company to provide a solution that fully met all the design requirements. Two years after the initial talks with the client, Hart successfully completed the manufacture and installation of all of the high speed smoke/fire screens within the main check in area, comprising 102 check in desks. Hart also installed a mixed package of roller shutter and fire doors in the lower ground service area and fire shutters on the Tube access tunnels leading directly to Terminal 5. The success Hart was chosen for the quality of engineering and the ability to meet the clients demanding specification and operating requirements. Hart continues to work with contractors and OEM’s such as Vanderlande, Mace and Balfour Beatty on site supplying upgrades and new doors when required

Handling over five million passengers a year, Liverpool John Lennon Airport is one of the UK’s busiest airports. Last year Twinfix worked with Principal Contractor Technical Construction Group Limited on a £750,000 project to design, manufacture and install a new covered walkway at the airport from the terminal building past stands 51 to 53 on the airside apron.

Health & Safety Executive figures show that handling materials is the second most common cause for injuries on construction sites and the Union of Construction, Allied Trades & Technicians states that workers are constantly being exposed to health risks. Leading bead manufacturer, Renderplas, says choosing PVC beads over metal counterparts could reduce the number of on-site injuries.