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Developer Cavanna cuts costs by building a 'home' for the future with AET

Market leading Hiross Flexible Space air-conditioning technology from AET, is helping to save costs and maximise building efficiency at Riviera Park - the modern, purpose-built headquarters of Torquay-based property developer, The Cavanna Group.

As one of the region’s largest independent housebuilders, The Cavanna Group has recently developed their own new 15000 sq ft HQ. at Riviera Park, Torquay. The Hiross Flexible Space System was specified for the project by consulting services engineers, Kelly Taylor & Associates who worked closely with The Cavanna Group to create an office which runs at maximum operating efficiency. The Hiross Flexible Space System is part of the AET Flexible Space Concept incorporating raised access flooring, Movinord Fully Demountable Partitioning and Electropatent power distribution systems. Its installation will provide Riviera Park occupants with high standards of air-conditioned comfort and bring The Cavanna Group significant financial and operational benefits over the life-time of the building.

“Working with AET has bought enormous benefits on this project,” explains David Franklin, Senior Associate with Kelly Taylor & Associates. “Not only is the Flexible Space System an energy efficient air-conditioning solution, its inherent flexibility also enables Riviera Park to be easily re-configured with minimum cost and disruption, to meet the future needs of this growing developer.”

Ordinary VAV or fan coil type air-conditioning systems are fixed, ceiling-based solutions which are acceptable in buildings where the layout of the office space remains exactly the same for the lifetime of its occupancy. However, office churn involving layout changes, inserting partitions, moving people, desks and walls is a fact of business life. This process significantly inhibits the capability of fixed air-conditioning systems to provide the comfortable environment for which they were initially designed. The Hiross Flexible Space System, however, offers a fundamentally different, more advanced and cost-saving approach.

At Riviera Park, Flexible Space has been installed across 8 zones of the open-plan and cellular offices of the two-storey Cavanna Group building. Each zone’s floor void, or plenum, is divided into two sections by a silicone covered barrier material; creating a supply air zone and a return air zone, very roughly splitting the plenum into two halves. Depending on the users requirements, either cooled or warmed air is driven into the supply air zone by a Conditioned Air Module (CAM). This air is then drawn up into the occupied space by fan-assisted terminal units (FTU). The FTU are recessed into the floor, plugged into an underfloor power source and connected by Cat5 data cabling for intelligent control. After thorough mixing in the office space, the used air travels back down into the plenum through grilles over the return air zone and, along with an injection of fresh air, passed through to the CAM. Here, it is filtered, has the humidity and temperature adjusted according to settings made both at the CAM and FTUs and is once again recirculated into the supply air channel.

Since the FTUs are not restricted by duct or pipe connections, any future changes The Cavanna Group wish to make to their office layout may be effected with minimum cost and disruption. Office IT and telecoms cabling as well as power supply systems are also concealed beneath the raised access floor, minimising workspace congestion and making any subsequent reconfiguration a straightforward task.

A recent CABE study has identified a 90% decrease in churn cost in a building with under-floor HVAC, power, telephone and data systems over a building with ceiling-based HVAC and a cellular floor. In the fourth edition of the British Council of Offices Specification Guide, improvements in business performance have been highlighted as achievable through the installation of an under-floor HVAC system in commercial buildings.

Email: sales@flexiblespace.com