Project Value – £3.5 million
Completed – January 2010
Description
The project brief was to provide heating, plumbing, ventilation, lighting, power, communication, security systems and kitchen installation to a new convent comprising of 40 bedrooms with en-suites, communal rooms, chapel, kitchen and dining facilities. The heating was to be provided from a central boilerhouse with dual fuel oil/gas fired boilers serving radiators. There was a central extract ventilation system with grilles and motorised dampers in each en-suite linked to a constant pressure fan in the roofspace. This provided an energy efficient and quiet means of ventilating the en-suite. For the residents noise from the individual extract fans would have been unacceptable.
The electrical services design provided energy efficient lighting with both photocell and PIR controls. The design far exceeded the required 45 luminaire lumens per circuit watt. The lighting scheme created a domestic ambience within the building.
A category 4 fire detection and alarm system was proposed for the building utilising smoke/heat detector heads with combined sounder strobes. In addition a refuge call system was required to provide two way communications between the refuge stations and ground floor reception.
Of the 40 bedrooms a number were dedicated to a special care requiring special attention to the layout of electrical services and inclusion of a patient call system, and door monitoring system.
The Client requested a standby generator installation and the generator was designed to avail of peak lopping during the winter months to reduce electricity usage during peak tariffs. Close liaison was required with the electricity provided to ensure successful synchronisation of the installation.