The Challenge
ABC Selfstore in north London owns a six-storey building which has been fitted-out with self-contained storage units. The building was originally heated using a traditional wet-system with a large gas boiler. However, the boiler had not worked for some years and needed replacing whilst the pipework and radiators had corroded and become prone to leaking. As a result, the insurance company had raised concerns about potential claims from customers whose possessions may be damaged as a result of leaking heating pipes. The building was poorly insulated and prone to cold spots and draughts.
ABC Selfstore’s customers do not spend long on site when visiting their storage units and tend to be actively moving around for most of the time. Therefore the building does not need to be heated to a high level. Nevertheless, whilst in the building customers and staff do need to feel comfortable.
The floor area containing the storage units is extensive but this area remains mainly unoccupied and does not require heating. Focusing on the corridors and stairwells (the most frequently used areas) a direct form of heating was required which retained the warmth within the communal areas and avoided wasted energy from heat dissipating into the unoccupied storage units.
Different parts of the building had different heating requirements due to physical characteristics. For example, the front of the building and the stairwells have more windows and therefore require more heating than the rear of the building with solid brick walls.
The boiler had not worked for some years and needed replacing whilst the pipework and radiators had corroded and become prone to leaking.
As a result it was prone to cold spots and draughts.
Need for a varied and multifunctioning solution.
