Making a saving with plant in a box

22 January, 2009

The heating ventilating and air conditioning sector and indeed, building services in general, are under incredible pressure to reduce costs and complete installations in ever shorter timescales. At the same time skills shortages and punitive penalty clauses have become the norm in new builds and the upgrading of commercial premises.

Plant in a box
Against this backdrop, Constant Air Systems has developed a modular approach to the design, construction and installation of complete HVAC plant rooms that enables the company to completely assemble and test the equipment before shipping a complete plant room to site. Once delivered, installations are completed by simple connections.

Since the whole industry relies on just in time delivery, CAS’s construction method relies on suppliers that can equally match its own tight schedules. That means having product available and service to match.

WF Electrical’s construction and installation team developed a partnering solution with Martin Wigginton, managing director of Constant Air Systems, that has seen WF provide a range of HVAC control gear and the large 600kW boilers, costing up to £7,000 each, that form the heart of most of CAS’s heating systems.

The pre-fabrication approach
While CAS’s plant rooms are conventional in what they do, their installation is anything but typical for they are pre-fabricated in CAS’s factory in High Wycombe to individual specifications and then transported to site and ‘plugged into’ the existing services.

Pre-fabrication in a factory environment can not only improve installed quality, but can reduce overall costs and programme time normally experienced by carrying out installations on-site.

In the main the pre-fabricated units, which can cost upwards of £100,000, are commissioned as part of a modernisation process where it would be far too costly in lost production time if an existing facility was demolished and a replacement installed. What’s more, by constructing the plant rooms off-site, the level of productivity can be 50 per cent higher than for conventional building on-site. The element of control is greater and materials can be stored in a secure environment ready for immediate use.

As companies come under increasing cost and time pressures, this type of pre-assembled installation has gathered pace. CAS’s client list includes organisations in the public sector such as hospitals as well as various blue chip companies such as Tesco, British Airways and Cable and Wireless.

Wigginton pointed out that some installations are far from standard, such as when CAS took responsibility for installing three units on the Forth road bridge to keep the humidity of the cables controlled.

Benefits
The CAS approach to pre-fabrication and off-site construction provides various benefits i.e, all plant rooms and skids can be individually designed to meet requirements, high engineering and quality standards are incorporated in all packages, on-site installation time is quicker and detailed designs are prepared in advance using the latest CAD techniques Centralised control systems can be incorporated and services are pre-tested and certificated prior to delivery. Factory inspection can be arranged for clients during the construction phases and there is an unrestricted selection of equipment to choose from.

Applications
Typical pre-fabricated packaged plant room solution applications include boiler plant for heating systems, steam plant for heating or process systems, domestic hot and cold water plant, chilled water plant, air handling plant, air conditioning and refrigeration plant, and electrical switchgear.

Apart from building and installing pre-assembled plant rooms, upon request, Constant Air Systems offer turnkey solutions in carrying out site works associated with any pre-fabricated project, including builder’s work, mechanical and electrical services or craneage and positioning as either a principal contractor or subcontractor.