Low carbon specialist moves to new premises
26th March 2024
UK: Strong growth has prompted Hull-based BREng, the building services company specialising in low-carbon air conditioning and heat pump projects, to move to new offices in the city centre.
Established in 2019, the move to 1 Parliament St, Grade-2 listed building in Hull City centre follows rapid growth of cooling and heating decarbonisation projects underway for schools, public buildings and national retailers across the UK.
MD Rob Smelt, who attributes the surge in demand to the recent steep rises in energy costs, said: “Our new premises provide the facilities to meet the expanded workload, while the location in the North East provides excellent access to active projects as far afield as Scotland and Cornwall.”
The company recently completed decarbonisation projects for a number of schools in the North East, including conversion to air-source heat pumps and phased projects using enhanced heat emitters.
Current projects include a heat-recovery system for an NHS consulting centre in Wembley, an integrated HVAC system for an office complex in Derby, and a high efficiency close-control temperature and humidity solution for a German-owned motor manufacturer.
The company recently introduced a pioneering 3D digital building scanning service that involves rendering an entire building envelope in digital form for use in BIM project planning. This enables detailed schemes for HVAC, plumbing and electrical services to be mapped out without the need to attend site.
As part of expansion, the family-owned company – founded by Rob Smelt and Bridget Marvin-Smelt in 2019 – has been joined by sons Tom and Jack, who specialise in building services engineering and building digitalisation respectively.
“It is an exciting time to be part of the air conditioning and building services industry,” Smelt observed. “The technology, and the legislative framework in which we operate, is changing rapidly. It will have a huge impact on the entire national building estate, and require massive investment by both the public and private sector to achieve the net zero targets mandated by government.”
