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SEPTEMBER 08 - PASSIVELY VENTING LOCAL GOVERNMENT



Halton Borough Council is flushed with success at using advanced technologies to turn a 1960s office block into a flagship for sustainability and efficiency, with help from Passivent.

The council's administrative centre, adjoining the 1853 Grade II listed Runcorn Town Hall, has been refurbished to create virtually a new building to provide a ‘flagship’, sustainable working environment for the 200 staff, that was simultaneously sympathetic with the adjacent Italianate villa style civic suite. A key element to the upgraded building services is the inclusion of Passivent’s Assisted Ventilation (A/V) system in each of the nine toilet facilities across the three floors of the building, aimed at ensuring the atmosphere in the toilets remains fresh and odourless with little energy usage.

With the BBA certified Passivent system, natural air movement, in which warm air rises, is supplemented by minimal energy consumption to ensure the toilets are effectively ventilated. Strategically positioned extracts in each of the toilets are connected via ducting and a continuously running low energy fan in the roofspace- the only component to require power- to a low profile roof terminal. The warm air, and thus moisture and odours, in the toilets rises up through the extracts and ducting to be gently and constantly exhausted through the roof to maintain a pleasant environment within the area; the fan helps ensure that the ‘used’ air even three storeys below has sufficient ‘draw’ to rise for effective extraction.

The system requires no user input, meaning there is no risk of conventional, noisy mechanical extract fans not being turned on when required creating an unpleasant environment for subsequent users, nor fans being left running and so consuming electricity unnecessarily. Further, Passivent A/V minimises energy usage and maintenance as just the one low power fan operates all the extracts.

Martin McCrimmon, Halton Borough Council’s project manager for the refurbishment, elaborated, “There was previously conventional mechanical extraction in the toilets, but it needed updating. The refurbished building has been designed to be a flagship of sustainability, with a significantly reduced carbon footprint. Passivent ventilation has helped to form a key part of the modernisation, which also included increasing insulation to the roof and the triple glazed cladding panels, double glazed windows, the introduction of brise soleil solar shading, the latest lighting design, careful zoning of heating controls and the installation of photovoltaic panels to provide solar power, all helping reduce the building’s carbon footprint whilst remaining sympathetic with the adjacent Grade II listed Town Hall.”

Assisted ventilation is just part of the energy efficient Passivent range for both domestic and commercial buildings, which includes intelligent Passive Stack ventilation (iPSV), Positive Input Ventilation (PIV), Mechanical Extract Ventilation (MEV and iMEV), plus a spectrum of background window and through-wall ventilation solutions. Passivent is part of the Building Product Design Group which incorporates Glidevale (roofing and ventilation), Z-Led (damp-proofing solutions), and Kingfisher Louvre Systems (ventilation and solar shading louvre systems) all of which aim to bring to market innovative yet practical products in line with changing requirements.

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