A Blackpool engineering company is playing a key role in making a brownfield site on the outskirts of London as green as possible.
St Andrews Park- formerly RAF Uxbridge- is being championed by Hillingdon Council as being a self-sufficient community. Central to the redevelopment is construction of a 720-pupil primary school with associated 90 place nursery compliant with the Council??s commitment to the DSCF sustainable school framework- The John Locke Academy.
Alongside a green roof, ground heat source and solar lighting, the Academy features natural ventilation supplied by Gilberts of Blackpool. Gilberts?? louvres are strategically located alongside windows on one façade to provide single sided natural ventilation.
In addition to ensuring the air quality within remains within DfE guidelines, Gilberts?? louvres enable the ventilation strategy to achieve ??free?? night cooling, purgeing overnight any excess heat which may have built up during the day so the classrooms are an appropriate temperature when school resumes.
?The aim was to make use of natural ventilation throughout the building as far as possible,?? explained Colum Sheppard, project manager for JBE Mechanical Electrical, building services provider for the scheme. ?Gilberts gave us the best value for money to achieve the brief.??
All Gilberts?? systems are engineered to order, and comprehensively tested, in the UK. The company??s Mistrale 75 ventilator unit delivers the best combined performance for U values and air leakage of its type, and surpasses current and medium-term future Regulatory requirements. It is also one of the slimmest ventilators available, enabling easier integration into the façade with minimal requirement for boxing in etc.
Founded 50 years ago, privately owned Gilberts is unique in having its own, on-site (85,000ft2) manufacturing facility, producing engineered solutions, with an in-house test centre. Technical expertise is supported by bespoke software developed in partnership with the University of Strathclyde, addressing air movement and flow simulation/ computation fluid dynamics.
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