Headquarters becomes a centre of excellence with water-based air conditioning

When Working Environments was looking to amalgamate three different company locations on the south coast into one, the decision was taken to develop and modernise their existing headquarters at Monza House in Southampton to accommodate the integration.

The company’s executive management objective was to provide a modern, comfortable environment for staff and customers and turn the interior of the building into a ‘Centre of Excellence’ that could act as a showcase for Working Environment’s expertise and services.

Working Environments is the largest privately owned building services provider in the Home Counties and has built up a proud, solid reputation for a comprehensive range of mechanical and electrical services since its formation in 1974.

As a BSP (Business Solutions Provider) for Mitsubishi Electric, Working Environments has a very close relationship with the manufacturer and when Special Projects Director, Mike Jenkins first heard of the innovative new air conditioning system that Mitsubishi Electric had developed, he wanted to be one of the first to check out its capabilities.

The pioneering new system uses water to replace the majority of the internal refrigerant used in traditional VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) air conditioning which removes the need for leak detection equipment and allows more properties to benefit from the flexibility of both design and operation that VRF can bring.

The HVRF (Hybrid-VRF) system operates without using refrigerant in occupied spaces and at the heart of the new system is an HBC (Hybrid Branch Controller) box, which is connected to the outdoor unit via traditional refrigerant piping.

The system is still able to deliver simultaneous heating and cooling in a simplified two-pipe design but between the HBC box and the indoor fan coils, the air conditioning uses water piping and still offers high sensible cooling and stable room temperatures for maximum comfort.

Work on installing the HVRF system into Monza House was split into several phases with the first step being the complete redevelopment of an existing warehouse into a new office area, seating 58 engineering and surveying staff, eight meeting rooms, an IT training suite and a staff breakout area.  A new plant room, print room and 80-seat auditorium were also created.

The facility is served by a single air handling unit (AHU) providing fresh air along with two traditional City Multi VRF systems with both ducted and ceiling cassettes, along with state of the art flat panel LED lighting with new power and data infrastructure.

Phase two saw the modifying of the existing ground floor offices and corridors to provide access to the new office area and completely modernise the space with new air conditioning, lighting, power and data.

Following the completion of these two phases the existing first floor offices were modernised and this is where the HVRF air conditioning was installed, along with new lighting, power and data infrastructure.

Overall the refurbishment and fit out took a total of 15 weeks and also incorporated a redesigning of the remaining ground floor offices to provide a new central accounts office for the TEPE (The Environmental & Process Engineering) Group of which Working Environments is a founding member and an office for the newly created Maintaining Environments – an integrated facilities management business.

A new mezzanine floor was also built within the adjacent unit to allow for an archive and new welfare facilities, whilst providing additional car parking spaces below.

“We have now installed monitoring equipment to allow us to see how well the system is working for us and the feedback from staff has been fantastic,” explained Mike Jenkins, Special Projects Director for Working Environments.

“Everyone has noticed how fresher and more balanced the internal temperatures have been and we’ve also noticed fewer drafts.

“Working Environments company vision is ‘to create a better environment...’ and by undertaking this exciting development, this has truly been achieved,” he ended. 

Ends

Note to editor:

Working Environments is a privately owned company which operates not only in mechanical and electrical services, air conditioning, facilities maintenance and manufacturing, but also heavy engineering and processing industries.  Working Environments is a founding member of The Environmental & Process Engineering Group and seeks to be a beacon of best practice.

For further editorial information please contact:

Russell Jones: Email: russell.jones@meuk.mee.com
PR & Communications Manager: Telephone: 01707 278772

MEL/038/13