100 Embankment in Manchester is enhancing its green credentials in a unique, cost-efficient way thanks to Gilberts.
When built five years ago, the building chose our diffusers to ventilate the internal space across all nine floors to help achieve its target BREEAM Excellent rating. Now, we’ve again been given the green lights to air a refit of three floors for new tenant National Highways’ NW Region.
The division’s relocation into new offices in Embankment, Manchester brings an open plan space with large glazed areas and exposed ceilings to accommodate office staff managing the region’s 530 miles of motorway and A roads.
Balancing thermal comfort for the 130 staff was therefore a challenge, answered by the specification of our GA fixed swirl diffusers throughout the 12,000+ sq ft space.
Our agent Angus Air worked closely with building services consultants Gleeds Building Surveying and contractor Larewood Complete Building Services on the best HVAC solution to maintain indoor air quality and effective heating and cooling even on the hottest or coldest of days. It all had to be achieved without subjecting the people working below to unnecessary and uncomfortable draughts.
A swirl diffuser was the obvious choice because of the interior design of exposed ductwork.
Usually with swirl diffusers in exposed ceilings, a Coanda plate is needed to optimise the air throw across the space: without it, there is risk of ineffective and inefficient air circulation, cold dumping and draughts: to optimise distribution, the air needs a surface to cling to (the Coanda effect).
We designed a unique faceplate for the GA diffuser which maximises spiral radial discharge of the incoming air. This creates its own Coanda effect. There is none of the additional cost and aesthetic impact of a separate Coanda plate.
We specifically designed the swirl for exposed ceilings. We have utilised a high performance concealed impeller to achieve air volumes up to 250l/s (depending on face plate design) with rapid entrainment and mixing capability.
The effectiveness of the GA coupled with the 4-pipe fan coil system providing simultaneous heating and cooling installed by Larewood Building Services have helped the fit-out of the Grade A offices achieve a BREEAM rating of excellent.
Angus Watson of Angus Air, commented, “We needed a circular swirl because of the exposed ceiling. The modern styling of the GA plus the benefit that we didn’t need a Coanda plate makes the swirl unique in the marketplace and gave us something different.”
Steve Cooke, Director of Estates, Facilities and Services for National Highways said: “Our relocation to Embankment East marks the latest step in our ongoing commitment to building a better, greener, and smaller estate.
“By reducing our Manchester office space by half and selecting a building with advanced sustainability credentials, we are also advancing our commitment to reduce our carbon emissions in line with our plan to reach Net Zero on corporate emissions by 2030.”
The National Highways’ Embankment office refit follows our provision of more than 500 ventilators for the entire development when it first opened five years ago.
It reinforces our expertise in air movement within office environments, following on from projects including Google’s London offices, X’s offices in Dublin, CBRE’s new Liverpool suite, Manchester’s global hub for science and technology the Renold Building and Birmingham’s tallest and claimed to be greenest offices @ 103 Colmore Row.
