Toshiba conditions Glasgow BREEAM building

UK: A new landmark building in Glasgow’s St Vincent Plaza, being designed to have a BREEAM rating of Excellent, will be cooled and heated by a Toshiba 3-pipe SHRM-i VRF air conditioning system with full heat recovery.

The striking 10-storey granite and glass-clad office development, by developer Abstract Securities Group and main contractor Bowmer & Kirkland, will provide 170,000ft² of Grade A office accommodation with panoramic views across the city. The state-of-the-art building includes shower rooms, changing facilities and secure internet shopping storage. It is due to be completed next spring.

The Toshiba air conditioning is being installed by Castle Building Services of Hebburn, Tyne & Wear, as part of a £5m m&e contract. The installation comprises 21 high efficiency Toshiba SHRM-i VRF systems, plus a twin-ducted system, providing simultaneous heating and cooling.

Excess heat generated in areas of the building subject to high solar gain or internal heat sources will be harnessed for use elsewhere, or be used as energy to power cooling via a sophisticated thermodynamic conversion system.

The Toshiba equipment was selected to meet the criteria of long refrigerant pipe runs, high SEER and SCOP values, and exceptionally quiet indoor fan coil units.

Some 316 ducted fan coil units are being installed, linked to 41 outdoor condensing modules, with the system connected into the building’s BMS using Toshiba’s recently developed Black Pear interface.

The Modbus-based interface gives the building supervisor access to each fan coil, plus access to overall system timing schedules and temperature and air speed settings, enabling continuous optimisation of energy efficiency and occupant comfort.

Castle Building Services used Toshiba Air Conditioning’s design and selection software, which takes into account system loading, pipe runs and design temperatures for summer and winter, to determine actual cooling and heating values for each of the building’s indoor units.