Product category:
Ventilation Services
News Release from: Monodraught | Subject: Windcatcher natural ventilation systems
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 18 March 2008
College reduces energy bill and carbon
footprint
CITB building reduces hull college energy bill and carbon footprint using Windcatcher natural ventilation systems.
Award winning Hull College holds Centre of Vocational Excellence status for Construction Technologies and is one of the largest providers of construction studies in the UK, training over 1,300 learners every year in craft skills ranging from carpentry and joinery to bricklaying and plastering The Construction Workshop has recently been the subject of a major refurbishment and extension and it is appropriate that, as part of a project that will contribute to the future of the construction industry, Triangle Consulting Engineers who carried out the design work, took the opportunity to specify Monodraught Windcatcher natural ventilation systems throughout most of the building
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 18 Aug 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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Commenting on the choice of this particular type of natural ventilation Triangle director Kevin Woodhouse says because Windcatcher systems use only renewable natural wind energy they will play an important role in future by reducing the College's total reliance on electricity for cooling, and therefore, its carbon emissions.
Both features are important in meeting the College's eco-sustainability and energy efficiency policies, and the need for the CITB Building to comply with Part L of Building Regulations covering the conservation of fuel and power.
In fact, Triangle's estimates of reductions in primary energy use, show potential savings of 51,600 kw/h a year.
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Kevin adds that the choice of the Monodraught Windcatcher was based on his positive experiences with the systems on a number of schools and sports halls for Leicester City Council and says he was confident that the units would relieve 'hot spots' in the original building and ensure that the new extension didn't suffer from the stuffiness normally experienced by inadequate provision of ventilation.
The specification called for a total of sixteen GRP 900 square Windcatchers to provide natural ventilation for both the original Construction workshop and the extension.
In the original building, the ground floor houses the Trowel trades area, and a mezzanine level above accommodates a Joinery Workshop.
During the summer last year, students and staff working on the mezzanine had complained of very high temperatures in the space caused by rising warm air and a lack of adequate ventilation.
To ensure that the ventilation problem in the Joinery Workshop was properly resolved Windcatcher units were fitted in the area itself and also installed at high level in the double-height Trowel trades Workshop.
The Joinery Workshop was then enclosed within a Stud partition wall so that hot air rising from below wasn't able to enter the space.
In the new two-storey extension, the ground floor is a project area assigned for teaching construction skills while the first floor houses new Joinery Workshops, classrooms, resource rooms, a staff room, and other services.
As in the original building, the project area and workshops are ventilated using Monodraught Windcatchers.
The units ventilating the first floor workshops bring fresh air directly into the space while those serving the ground floor feed air down through the first floor using a special shaft arrangement.
The areas served by the Windcatcher systems account for 80% of the building, leaving the first floor classrooms, resource rooms, staff room, etc., as the only areas of the entire Construction workshop served by a heat pump system.
Highlighting this point Kevin Woodhouse confirms that having 80% of the building naturally ventilated has an extremely positive effect on Part L compliance and accounts for the estimated 51,600 kw/h per year energy saving.
Roof mounted and designed to operate with virtually no moving parts, Monodraught Windcatcher systems use established atmospheric principles and the natural effects of the wind to bring fresh air into the building and extract stale warm air from it.
Warm air rising to roof level decreases the air pressure within the building, allowing cooler air to enter via the Windcatcher units.
The resultant change in air pressure produces sufficient airflow to make the space comfortably fresh.
Wind blowing onto the windward side of the ventilation stacks increase the through-put of air and encourages stale air to be extracted through the leeward side of the roof unit.
Opposed blade dampers - made from recycled plastic with their ventilation rate controlled by temperature and CO2 sensors - precisely control airflow through the system dependent on the internal temperature.
At night they can be programmed to open fully, providing a downwash of cool air that purges the building, leaving the interior feeling fresh and clean for the following morning.
Summing up, Kevin Woodhouse says the Windcatchers units were easily accommodated into the project by a combination of careful space planning at an early stage and collaboration with the College and architect to ensure that internal layouts allowed space for the ventilation shafts to pass through the first floor of the new extension.
The fact that Windcatcher units have no moving parts also highlighted other advantages when compared to a mechanical air conditioning system, notably very low maintenance requirements and a positive effect on the noise pollution limits imposed by the local planning authority. Request a free brochure from Monodraught ...
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