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Oakwood offer solution to a listed building in Manchester City Centre - project value £600,000

21 August 2008

An interesting recent project is the refurbishment of the office floors of 196 Deansgate in Manchester. This city centre six-storey Grade II listed building has been up-graded to provide high quality office accommodation. As part of the planning consent Manchester City Council Planning & Conservation team stipulated that the building's listed features should be on view which meant the suspended ceilings could not be re-instated.

This of course presented problems for the building services designers as ceiling voids are commonly used to conceal air conditioning equipment. The solution finally adopted was to install a Flexible Space under-floor air conditioning system throughout the office areas. As approved installers of Flexible Space Systems Oakwood were ideally placed to offer advice and implement the subsequent design solution.

The Flexible Space System (FSS) is a highly effective under-floor air conditioning system standing out from other systems because of its ability to service varying requirements in offices from the floor void alone, and because it obviates the need for a ceiling void entirely. The system utilises different sections of the floor void as supply and return plena for conditioned air, segregated by a special baffle material, and eliminates the need for horizontal distribution ductwork and pipework entirely. Fan air terminals (fantiles), recessed flush into the floor, with their own self-contained control systems serve individual offices and open plan areas simply by drawing quantities of conditioned air from the floor void. Changes in office layout are accommodated simply by up-lifting and re-locating fantiles.

12 No conditioned air modules (CAMs) supply heated/cooled air into the floor void. Air handling units and a 400kW air-cooled chiller on the roof provide fresh air and cooling to the CAMs while a new 660kW boiler plant in the basement provides the low temperature hot water requirements.

The end result is a totally flexible, unobtrusive, efficient air conditioning system that blends in perfectly with the character of the building yet offers all the features required by the occupants of a modern office.

196 Deansgate

196 Deansgate

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