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News Release from: Chelgate | Subject: Combined heat and power (CHP)
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 09 March 2005
Steam mills are again pioneers of power
Combined heat and power (CHP) and a community heating system will be features of the regeneration of four of Manchester's most important spinning mills.
Combined heat and power (CHP) and a community heating system will be features of the regeneration of four of Manchester's most important spinning mills The GBP 80 million scheme by ING Real Estate to convert Royal Mills to mixed use is part of the Ancoats Urban Village regeneration project
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 16 Dec 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The redevelopment involves two of the first mills in the world to use steam power, and means that buildings which were at the forefront of technology in the early 1800s will be at the frontier of sustainability and technology as much as two centuries later.
ING Real Estate is behind the project.
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It is part of one of the largest financial institutions in Europe and has been responsible a number of innovative development schemes, such as West India Quay in London's Docklands and Ocean Village in Southampton.
The use of combined heat and power and a district heating system for a residential development is not currently common practice in the UK, and is probably unique for Manchester.
The relative low cost of gas and electricity, and the general small-scale nature of residential projects, does not make these applications cost-effective, when comparing capital investment and return.
However, with global warming becoming an ever-growing issue, itself leading to increasing pressure for energy efficiency through tighter building standards, coupled with anticipated rises in energy costs, developers are more-and-more looking at this kind of solution for large compact residential developments.
Phase one of Royal Mills will see the construction of 198 residential apartments, retail units, restaurants and cafes, a business centre, and a multi-storey car park.
Carillion has started work on the conversion of the four main mill buildings, which will take two years to complete.
It has been working on the site since 2002 undertaking renovation and enabling works on the buildings, which have been largely disused for the past decade.
Phase two involves the construction of a new build block of apartments adjacent to the existing mill buildings, and may start in around 2006.
Ron Delamere, the senior project manager for Carillion, explained: "Before we started work in 2002, the buildings had been neglected for some time.
There had been a major collapse of five floors within one building and some fire damage.
"The structures are mainly cast iron with red brick walls and floors.
Each floor is supported by brick 'jackarches' which give the 'vaulted' feel to the mill." The main complex consists of four mills, the first being the Old Sedgwick Mill, which was built in 1820, and then the New Sedgwick Mill, built in 1868.
Paragon Mill and Royal Mill were added in 1911 and 1913 respectively.
The buildings are not uniform in design, having been modified, updated and changed throughout their lifetime as mills, two of them for well over 100 years.
Operatives and trades have had to take time to get used to the complex layout, described by many as a rabbit warren.
With the use of CHP and community heating, the services installations are atypical compared to average residential development.
Instead of individual boilers or electric heaters in each apartment, there will be a 'ring main' of piped hot water served from a central 'boiler room'.
The 'lead boiler' will be the combined heat and power unit which whilst supplying heated water to the offices and apartments, will at the same time provide the 'background' power for the landlord's light and power requirements, as well as the business centre.
As the heating load increases during the winter, there are three further gas boilers which will be brought into operation to meet demand.
The CHP unit will also operate as the back-up generator for the complex should there be a power failure.
Each apartment will take heat from the ring main through a heat exchanger, which will be controllable by the resident.
Royal Mills is a key part of the Ancoats Urban Village redevelopment, which aims to generate a compact and bustling 'village' on the east side of Manchester, next to the Rochdale Canal.
Ian Pearce, chief executive of ING Real Estate, said: "Our vision for Royal Mills has been about creating a thriving and sustainable community in a mixed development, of appeal to residents, visitors and businesses." He has obviously got it right as pre-sales have shown that this is going to be a very popular area with more than 104 apartments sold already.
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