Project Details
PROPERTY
Kinnaird House, Pall Mall
ACHIEVEMENTS
Comfort conditions on the tenant floors were restored by the rebalancing works, all without disturbing Tenants’ normal day-to-day operations. The works also revealed central air handling unit faults so remedial works were undertaken which lead to a reduction in running costs for the Landlord.
Focus FM wrote a specification for rebalancing the ducted fresh air supply and extract, chilled water (CHW) and low temperature hot water (LTHW) services to Tenant floors. The works benefited in this instance by using the original design data.
Various modifications to the mechanical services on tenant floors due to fit-outs over several years meant that the building’s original design requirements were no longer being met, leading to poor ventilation, heating and cooling in some areas and putting an undue strain on the central plant. Focus FM organised a rebalance of the ventilation, heating (LTHW) and cooling (CHW) systems to all the tenant floors, restoring the original balance across all floors. In particular, we improved fresh air provision, which is especially important to the Tenants during the Covid pandemic.
The imbalance of these systems was due to modifications to mechanical services by Tenants’ Fit-Out works, often carried out without advising the Landlord, a common problem in commercial buildings. When the works were carried out, many initial flow rates measured were found to be a long way from original design requirements.
To avoid disruption to the Tenants, works were carried out at weekends with early and close liaison with Tenants and Landlord. Good flow of information and reporting from the contractor minimised the time to resolve problems, especially in ensuring access to commissioning valves and dampers and to replace failed components. Once the riser balancing was completed, pumps and fans were reset to provide the design flow rates so that central plant was once again set up correctly.
