COMMERCIAL - C02
The building orientation was not ideal for solar gain (south east and south west). The cooling load for a design module was 2.9 KW/hr. The building had ribbon windows 1.2 m high and it did not comply with the revised Part L of the building regulation.
We investigated shading alternatives such as brise soleil, external vertical fins, green shrubs with walking galleries as well as internal and external venetian blinds. The cooling load was calculated for each alternative. The external blinds effectively changed all the elevations to be similar to the north elevation in terms of solar gain and thus it was the most effective solution.
The height of the windows was increased to 2.7 m to enhance daylighting and reduce the electrical consumption. The cooling load was reduced to 1.4 KW/hr per module. The revised building passed the building regulations.
We Identified suppliers for external venetian blinds and visited some of their installations and spoke with the Estate Manger regarding their after service.
We contacted commercial cleaning companies and obtained prices for annual cleaning the external venetian blinds.
Tender documents were sent out to specialist sub contractors for this package.
As a result of reducing the cooling load from 2.9 KW to 1.4 KW, a substantial reduction of the cooling plant was achieved.
A saving of 250K was achieved in the curtain walling package only (excluding savings of the cooling plant).
The above is an example of how I work and it represents my mindset.