Buildings have a long life
Think flexibility already in the intial stages
At the beginning of a construction project it is most often specified what the building will be used for, what activities will take place inside and what occupancy patterns to expect. But buildings raised today will be standing for several years and the use will most likely change over time. It is therefore important to carefully consider flexibility already in the intital stages, for new-builds as well as renovations, to make sure that the rentable space is attractive for many years to come.
Flexibility is though not to choose products and systems of greatest size and capacity, or of simple and general design. An oversized solution will lead to unnecessarily large investments and expensive operating costs, and product selections aimed to suit all possible needs in the future will fail to offer an indoor climate for tenants to be willing to stay, and pay.
Control systems and updates for long-term operation
The approximate lifetime of a good standard air handling unit (AHU) is twenty some years. It is highly unlikely that a replacement of an AHU would take place only to suit new needs of new tenants. But during the lifetime of an air handling unit, the building has probably gotten new tenants a few times. New tenants with new demands and expectations. With that said, it is recommended to look for air handlers with well developed control systems that allow for easy adjustments to suit the chaning requirements.
It is also suggested to chose air handling units that can be both physically and digitally updated. A prolonged life of the AHU will be the means to a number of ends, not the least to minimise the risk of unhappy tenants due to a poor indoor climate or long-lasting substantial maintenance procedures.
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Supply and extract air
When the activity, occupancy and use of a building or single room changes, the requirements inside may change too. The way the supply air is introduced and how used air is extracted plays a significant role in creating a productive and comfortable indoor climate.
Well-advised choices in regards to the above can be made with a bit of knowledge about the most common ventilation principles. Worth knowing, is that there are indoor applications where one or the other principle is well recommended, but there are also cases where any principle will do. In the latter case, it will be the specific requirements, and perhaps expected future use of the building, that will impact the decision.
TO OUR TECHNICAL GUIDE ABOUT VENTILATION PRINCIPLES
Adjustable units inside the room
There are further choices to make inside the room. Supply air products with great flexibility is not only beneficial for creating the perfect indoor climate at the time, flexible products are also enabling easy adjustments when the use of the building changes.
To exemplify, our Swegon PARASOL hydronic unit is a climate module which, thanks to its four way air supply, has a large working range and hence can enable a good indoor climate in many different use scenarios. Further, many diffusers in our range of airborne products are beneficial thanks to their adoptable characteristics. For instance, by changing the direction of nozzles, different air distribution patterns can be created to suit the use of a room today as well as tomorrow.
Learn more about how air can be introduced into a room
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