Oventrop valves control heating and cooling at Welsh Assembly Government building

(08/01/2010)

The Welsh Assembly Government building, designed by Powell Dobson Associates and built by Carillion, can accommodate 535 staff including government officials, the Countryside Council for Wales and the Forestry Commission Wales. The building is of two sections, one 3-storey and the other 4 storey, joined by a full length atrium. 450 staff occupy the Ceredigion offices.

The two new buildings in Aberystwyth, for the Welsh Assembly Government and its next door neighbour the Ceredigion County Council offices both use Oventrop valves to control heating and cooling. Consulting design for both buildings was by Hoare Lea with different M&E contractors for each one. MITIE Engineering, Cardiff installed the system in the Welsh Assembly Government building which includes natural ventilation, grey water, solar hot water systems and ammonia chillers serving a major IT server room.

CMB Engineering, Cardiff was responsible for the Ceredigion offices with their mixed mode ventilation, grey water recycling system, solar hot water and biomass district heating systems. Previous experience of both contractors and the support given by Oventrop’s engineering staff prompted the use of their equipment for the two projects.

The main heat source is medium temperature hot water generated by a 1250kW to 1650kW frame size biomass wood-fired boiler. The system also has a 1200 kW gas boiler for emergency backup. The boiler delivers water to a 25,000 litre heavily insulated accumulator vessel to maintain a consistent load.

MTHW is pumped by underground flow and return pipework to the buildings 150 metres away where heat exchangers provide low pressure hot water for heating and hot water service generation. Some of the valves for the LPHW distribution are of Oventrop supply. The selection includes bronze and cast iron commissioning sets, low and medium flow commissioning sets, bronze and cast iron double regulating valves, isolation valves, strainers, drain cocks and metering stations. Aquastrom T Plus multifunction DHW secondary regulating valves were chosen for the domestic hot water systems in both buildings.

In addition to the above valve types CMB, who installed the two boilers, also used Oventrop AV6 TRVs with matching lockshield valves for the radiator heating system in the Ceredigion offices. The TRVs were equipped with 2m remote capillary thermostats. To control water temperature from wash basin and sink outlets CMB installed Brawamix thermostatic mixing valves.

Related categories:  Boilers - Gas   Commercial and offices applications   Grey water   Hot water generation and supply   Solar heating   Valves