Oval installation fails to stump Panasonic
30th March 2023
UK: Panasonic was not stumped when recently called upon to provide a sustainable heating and cooling system for England’s legendary Oval cricket ground.
Following the recent refurbishment, the international cricket ground in Kennington, London, is now benefiting from an upgraded heating and cooling system with a mix of 14 Panasonic ECOi 2 and 3 pipe units.
Home to Surrey County Cricket Club since 1845, the Oval also serves as a major London conference centre, hosting over 2000 events each year. Fifteen boxes, plus several of the venue’s function rooms including the legendary Ashes Suite, India, Pakistan, Australia, West Indies and John Major suites, were upgraded during the refurbishment. The new Panasonic system was installed throughout the JM Finn Stand by Vince Sharma and Thomas Hall of Surrey-based Peach Maintenance with distributor Oceanair supplying the ECOi units and helping with the design and schematics of the new system.
Surrey County Cricket Club needed to upgrade its existing heating and cooling system with a more sustainable and cost-effective solution, aligned with the organisation’s net zero goals.
The two Panasonic ECOi 3 pipe and 12 Panasonic ECOi 2 pipe systems replaced the existing 28 Sanyo units, installed in 2006 which had become difficult to maintain.
As the existing indoor fan coil units were all still working efficiently, the ideal and most cost-effective solution was to keep these units and find a compatible solution for new outdoor condensing units to allow minimal downtime and the event bookings to not be affected.
The installation was made easier by the fact that Panasonic had acquired Sanyo in 2009 and distributor Oceanair had supplied the original Sanyo units for this project.
“We knew the history and had the original schematics and were able to identify and mirror any of the concealed pipework,” commented Oceanair’s southern area account manager Tony Holland. “It was great to see that the original units had served the venue well over the last 17 years. We could now replace the system with fewer but more compact and highly energy efficient Panasonic units, resulting in a smaller footprint. The existing indoor fan coils and cassette units can also be easily updated as and when required from Panasonic’s wide range.”
