Case Studies - Cooling the University
Fyvie Hall at the University of Westminster and its associate board room was consistently uncomfortable during periods of hot weather. As with all universities the carbon impact of any cooling system needed to be minimised.
Fyvie Hall dates from the rebuilding of 309 Regent Street in 1910-1912. The architect responsible for the new building was George Mitchell, later to become Head of the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic. This very special building hosted the first public viewing of a motion picture.
The room is now used for education and conferences with a capacity of up to 150 people. The design of any cooling system also had to comply with all of the constraints associated with a Grade 1 listed building
Above Fyvie hall is the board room. This is a semi glazed building with natural ventilation.
Two side discharge EcoCoolers and an extraction system were installed to provide cooling for both rooms. The existing ventilation ducts and openings were utilised to avoid any listed building implications. The EcoCooling air supply fans are installed with pre and post sound attenuation to meet the internal requirement of NC40 and local restrictions.
A combined thermostat and humidistat in each room automatically controls the temperature with a maximum relative humidity. This solution has satisfied the cooling requirements of these rooms. With less than 20% of the energy use and carbon impact of an equivalent refrigeration based cooling system this will contribute to the University of Westminster’s Sustainability and Responsibility programme.
