Air conditioning and refrigeration firms are becoming increasingly worried about the amount of flammable refrigerant gas being used by engineers without suitable training, writes Ewen Rose
Category: Technical
Roundtable – key issues around smoke control regulation after Grenfell
Fire safety issues flagged by Dame Judith Hackitt after Grenfell were tackled by smoke control experts at a recent roundtable sponsored by Colt. Liza Young follows an in-depth debate on competency, guidance and whole life fire strategy
Fit for purpose – how best to keep cool in exercise spaces
Current design guidance for fitness spaces is not always optimised for comfort, according to Max Fordham’s Henry Pelly, who says people exercising keep cool more effectively when air movement is maximised
Acoustic session – eliminating drainage noise
Without appropriate acoustic drainage people living in close proximity can be disturbed by unwanted noise from neighbours, says Rehau’s Franz Huelle
Smooth operator – multi-layer composite pipes
Piping made from multi-layer composite pipe is a viable alternative to copper because it offers flexibility, speed of installation and the elimination of hot works on site, says Emmeti’s James Field
Hard facts – new Icom guide to water quality
An estimated half of all commercial hot-water systems have operational problems because of limescale, says Sentinel Commercial’s Chris Shelton, who believes Icom’s new guide can rectify this
Cool city living – tackling overheating risk in a glazed Salford tower
When excessive glazing caused a high-rise tower block in the centre of Manchester to overheat, contractor Proline developed a solution that plugged into a district cooling chilled water main. The firm’s Andrew Mitton explains
Heat recovery at the University Arms Hotel
Cambridge’s University Arms Hotel refurbishment had to accommodate a complex heat recovery system on a constrained site with strict planning restrictions. Nuaire’s Andrew Bott explains
What’s cooking – measuring PM2.5
To ensure indoor air quality measurements in homes are accurate and repeatable, we need standards that clearly define sensor types, calibration methods, sampling frequency, averaging periods and measurement locations, says the University of Nottingham’s Benjamin Jones
Take despair out of disrepair – guidance on dilapidations
Guidance on dilapidations from building services engineers is a specialist area, argues TFT’s Marc Hill – so what should be considered before a lease starts, and how can tenants prepare for lease end?