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Longley Park Sixth Form College

Four Seasons is ‘Cool’ say students!

Situated in a residential area in North East Sheffield, Longley Park Sixth Form College stands as a show piece for learning in the area. The College, championed by local MP David Blunkett, was designed by the same architects who produced the Baltic art centre in Newcastle to be an inspirational centre for the local area.

The College was opened in 2004 and is both unique and eye catching. It was designed and constructed to be thermally efficient, but needed an HVAC system to be installed which could provide the necessary amount of ventilation and cooling to satisfy the size and shape of the building during the summer months.

were successful in tendering for this exciting project as we were able to offer the most innovative ideas and flexible working practices, working closely with the client to satisfy their needs. The company Contracts Director, Peter Singh, played an instrumental role in the final decision, and his hands-on approach to the project was commended by the client.

“Peter was a crucial factor in the decision making process, as he was both innovative and able to implement a plan which required flexible working practices.” Rob Ellis, Longley Park Sixth Form College.

We were also able to offer the client the following terms, necessary to successfully complete a job of this type:

• “Out of college hours” working to ensure minimal disruption to the students
• Cost competitiveness
• Experienced project management
• CRB checks on all staff
• The Equipment

The Equipment
Due to overheating on the on the East Wing of the building, we supplemented the existing wet system with Mitsubishi VRF Heat pumps, set for cooling only. A future opportunity for the client is to allow for both heating and cooling to be offered depending on local and seasonal requirements.

We also installed the Mitsubishi PLC Load Shedder to monitor the power consumption of the installed equipment at the College. A load shedder is programmed to automatically shed unnecessary power during times of excessive usage; this prevents an unexpected total shut down of the system. In the event of the energy consumption reaching a critical value, the system is programmed to a 4 tiered system which will shut off unnecessary units before completely switching off. In having the capacity to downgrade via a tier system it reduces the energy consumption to provide a more efficient system with lower running costs.

Finally we installed a Mitsubishi G-50 control system which allows the client to monitor and control the temperature and the intensity of the airflow into each classroom directly from their computers via an online trend which can be programmed through the Mitsubishi website. This state of the art controls system is useful to this client as the shape of the building causes room temperatures of the classrooms to fluctuate throughout the day and allows for up to 50 rooms to be controlled at the same time.

By maintaining a closely controlled system the client can be selective in usage and benefit them from smaller cheaper costs. This type of control also benefits the environment as the systems are it is expending less energy on a daily basis.

Feedback
Since the project was completed feedback from staff at Longley Park Sixth Form College has been very positive. It was felt that this state of the art system it is very user friendly and staff have noted a positive response from the students to the improved classroom conditions: the better ventilation and air quality has contributed to student motivation and learning.

Future work
We have since been invited back to Longley Park Sixth Form College secure a maintenance contract for their HVAC system. This involves two major visits followed by one visit to conduct an indoor maintenance service which will be followed by a F-Gas leak check visit which is now a legal obligation due to the European F-Gas Regulation.

We have also installed a wall mount system in the reprography room and we will also be replacing the existing system in the in the server room in the near future. This reflects the confidence of the client in using The Four Seasons Group for future projects.