Electrical Contracting News (ECN) October 2016

BOURNVILLE GARDENS RETIREMENT VILLAGE An integrated system offers a new approach to building. Ordinarily, one company is commissioned to create a BMS and another to install a smoke system. However, having two different systems entails having different project managers, install teams and commissioning engineers, resulting in everything being unnecessarily duplicated. With an integrated system however, the client only has to commission one supplier and installer with a single project manager working on a single system. At Bournville, duplications of control panels and interfaces reduced, as did the overall cost. The building itself presented interesting challenges for SCS. The atrium features curved architecture and needed opening and closing window actuators, designed to regulate temperature and control smoke in the event of a fire. SCS came up with a clever arrangement of controls for the natural ventilation system, with a unique cause-and-effect protocol for the 80-plus actuators across its curved surface. All these systems were run through a Trend control system (including the smoke control system) and all with a maintained power supply. Mike Jackson, SCS Group’s regional manager (Wales and West), says, ‘Integration can mean many things to our clients. For us the principle is always the same. We approach a project from an engineering viewpoint that saves time and money.’ A single system also eliminates the risk of discontinuity between systems. SCS Group senior project manager John Kavanagh explains, ‘You can have grey areas between contractors, but if you do two areas with only one contractor there are potentially no gaps, because they have responsibility across the two systems.’ User friendly with remote support picture courtesy The ExtraCare Charitable Trust Bournville Gardens Village SCS’s vision for integration is to offer a system which controls and monitors multiple building services and can be easily operated by the client. While a smoke system would normally be stand alone and controlled from a touchscreen, SCS’s approach allows the whole system to be operated on a single PC with graphics, making it more comfortable to use. System reports are given 24/7 and warning emails reporting problems within the building are automatically sent out. With pictures and information appearing directly on the desktop, the system doesn’t need to be operated by a specialised technician. You simply log in and check for faults. Nick Sheriff, area maintenance and facilities manager at Bournville Gardens, who operates all types of systems installed in ExtraCare’s retirement villages, says, ‘The system is very easy to use via the BMS front end interface.’ As the system is integrated into the electronic world, SCS has remote access to check for faults within the system and offer proactive maintenance by diagnosing any problems. John Kavanagh says, ‘If we had to physically visit a building, it might be three hours before we can check the client’s system. With remote access, we can look at it within minutes.’ Nick Sheriff expressed his satisfaction saying, ‘Though there have been teething issues with the new system, SCS have been instrumental in helping us resolve these issues and I have been extremely satisfied with their performance.’ picture courtesy The ExtraCare Charitable Trust Bournville Gardens Village Cost saving and risk free PROJECT FOCUS Environmentally friendly Bournville Retirement Village wants to give residents a new lease for life in an atmosphere that promotes wellbeing. As part of the integration, the natural ventilation system used during the summer months helps maintain this healthy environment thanks to its energy neutral temperature control and minimal noise pollution. John adds, ‘With natural vent, a mechanical plant isn’t cooling the building. You’re not using big and expensive chillers, you’re opening the window and using fresh air. Natural vent is the most efficient way of cooling using free energy from outside.’ As natural ventilation cannot be used during winter, the BMS integrates other heat-regulating building services with a centralised ventilation system which controls comfort conditions within the village mall, the bar areas and the kitchen. It also automates the central boiler plant and the underfloor heating systems, and is highly integrated to the air conditioning systems throughout the building. As a healthcare facility, Bournville really benefits from the automated temperature control. John explains, ‘If you’re maintaining good temperature control, you’re offering a more natural environment to your patients. Within good boundaries of heating and cooling, people function better.’ Successful integration Bournville Gardens has been shortlisted in the ‘Older People’s Development of the Year’ category for Top 60 Developments, a national housing award run by Inside Housing magazine. This shortlisting shows the success of the development as a whole. John says, ‘Bournville was an exciting concept project for SCS as integration on this scale has never been done before. We had to rely on our creativity to expand the design and our engineering skills to apply the controls.’ The single system initially posed technical problems as BMS is an environmental and monitoring system, while smoke systems are life safety systems which have to work in any condition. SCS had to overcome the technical problem of delivering a stable and reliable system that is a BMS and smoke system all in one, without losing the integrity of the life safety system by putting a BMS on it. Mike Jackson concl

Electrical Contracting News (ECN) October 2016 | Page 27