News Release
In today's most competitive business economy, companies are under increasing pressure to improve energy efficiency and address longer term sustainability issues.
When Mabbett & Associates Ltd (M&A) a Glasgow, Scottish based environmental, health and safety, and energy conservation consulting and engineering firm moved to new office premises they were presented with the ideal opportunity to 'practice what they preach' and increase the efficiency and sustainability of their own office premises.
M&A purchased an 1850 Victorian, B listed townhouse and embarked on an extensive refurbishment project to modernise and restore the building for future use. This provided the firm's in-house building services engineers and chosen architect, Fiona Sinclair, with the ideal opportunity to redesign the buildings envelope, heating, lighting and ventilation systems at the design stage to make them more efficient by reducing the amount of energy the building needs in the first instance and therefore, introducing significant future cost savings. The M&A engineers also utilised many of the inherent features of an 1850 Georgian townhouse to fulfil their energy conversation goals.
Detailed below are the main energy conservation features that M&A implemented in its historical building restoration programme:
·increased the insulation levels of the roof as it was largely uninsulated;
·retained the natural ventilation in the main offices using trickle vents and openable windows;
·replaced the original single glazed sash and case windows with low-e, double glazed units all designed in the 1850 motif;
·installed a new heating system with new mild steel pipework to serve radiators which were better placed under windows to release wall space and also reducing cold draughts and radiant cooling thus, making it more comfortable for the occupant. The heating system was also split into two (2) centrally controlled zones and local control provided to each office via thermostatic radiator valves; and
·rebuilt the entire electrical system and new high frequency fluorescent lights with triphosphor lamps were installed and wired so that the lights nearest the windows could be switched off when daylight is sufficient.
All of the measures undertaken will not only save on the running cost of the building, but has significantly improved its Energy Performance Certificate rating under the Energy Performance of Buildings regulations.
M&A were recognised by the Carbon Trust as a finalist in its annual Low Carbon Building Awards for its efforts to increase energy efficiency and therefore, reduce carbon emissions from the new office premises. The Carbon Trust also published a case study on M&A and its historical building refurbishment programme entitled: CTS051 Energy Management: lighting, heating and insulation upgrade make large savings. This can be downloaded from the Carbon Trust website: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk.
Source: Mabbett & Associates Ltd
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Environmental Consultancy Recognised For Their Energy Conservation Effort
