A challenging way to renovate
One project two buildings
The project at Francisco Gervas 10 in Madrid, Spain, consists of two buildings, one of 10 floors and another of 14 floors. Together they cover 8 000 m2 and house the family court of Madrid.
The renovation planned for Francisco Gervas was focusing on the indoor climate but with only minimal work to the existing duct work. This because the duct work was difficult to access inside the building, especially since court had planned to run its daily work while the renovation took place.
Renovations are not only expensive in terms of the work that is about to be done. It is also costly as tenants have to move out and rent is lost for a number of months. But, with only 1% of the building stock being new-built, rebuilds are utterly important to reduce our energy dependency. If they can be done discreetly enough to let the activity continue inside the building, many objectives can be met at the same time.
Learn more about renovation of offices in our application guide
Read our CEO's blog about energy efficiency in buildingsA challenging project needs experience and knowledge
On the left it was mentioned that the project process at Fracisco Gervas had a few atypical parameters to come to terms with. However, the solution provided can not be described as atypical, rather as custom-made in the sense that it was carefully selected for the purpose of the building and the needs for a good indoor climate.
HoMU Project, who project managed this renovation, specified Swegon products and systems for a complete solution. Together the chosen products and systems allow for unbeatable advantages as they are designed and developed to fit into a thoroughly connected whole. As well as enabling enhanced functionalities, a complete solution from Swegon is energy-efficient without compromising the indoor climate.
Why Swegon
Solving a simultaneous need for cooling and heating
To meet the complex demands of the building, two Bluebox Omicron units were selected. They are multifunctional heat-pump units, designed for use in applications where there is a simultaneous and independent demand for hot and cold water production. In particular, this occurs when 4-pipe systems are utilised, which is common in, for instance, buildings with many purposes or buildings with large glazed facades.
The Omicron heat-pumps provide heating and cooling independently through separate water circuits, and have the advantage of working in heat recovery mode whenever there is a simultaneous demand for cooling and heating. Heat recovery of this kind enhances the energy-efficiency of the building as existing energy is being moved within the system.
get familiar with Bluebox omicron
Optimising plant units
The operation of the Omicron multifunctional heat-pumps on this project is optimised for energy-efficiency and resilience using two Swegon control systems.
Firstly, HYZER connects and controls the two multifunctional heat-pumps used in this building. Using advanced algorithms energy-consumption is reduced and operating conditions for cooling and heating are optimised to ensure secure and resiliant operation.
FLOWZER is a smart logic system for managing variable flow inverter pumps, optimising water flow to save pumping energy-consumption. It can be used in various installations, but on this project it controls the heating and cooling circuits between two multifunctional heat-pumps and into the building, saving energy by intelligent control of the pumps.
Read our expert's blog, Why are we moving more water than necessary?
A flexible partner to experienced project management
As well as the two Omicron heat-pumps which are used for efficient heating and cooling, two Swegon GOLD RX air handling units ensure filtered and controlled ventilation to the buildings. Fresh air is supplied in a highly efficient manner thanks to the air handlers' rotary heat exchangers which utilise the energy in the extract air to increase or decrease the temperature of the supply air, reducing the amount of heating and cooling needed.
On this project our neatly produced GOLD air handling units were provided with two empty sections. These were added to the units as the customer had requested functions, at the time, available only outside of Swegon. HoMU Project's experience and knowledge of the capabilities of our Swegon GOLD air handlers made it possible to use these units for their many advantages, and still deliver what the customer was expecting in terms of extraordinary features.
Swegon WISE at Francisco Gervas
Air quality was the main concern for this project which is why a Swegon WISE system was selected with sensors measuring exactly that. Our WISE system is developed to manage air flows to different floors in the building, based on information from a variety of sensors. Swegon WISE is an advanced system for demand-controlled ventilation (DCV), which ensures that the indoor climate in each part of the building is precisely adjusted to what is actually needed.
This project's challenge was that the family court, occupying the building, wanted to retain the current duct system for supply air. As the existing duct system was designed for constant flow (CAV), this would reduce the full capability of the installed WISE system. After close discussions with the client, Swegon WISE is used as intended,optimising the indoor climate based on temperature and air quality in the premises. WISE is even controlling the buildings' existing fan coils.
More about CAV and DCV in our Technical indoor climate guide
Swegon WISEGoing forward
The Swegon solution and combination of smart products has absolutely changed the quality and comfort of the indoor climate at Francisco Gervas for the better. As time goes, a noticeable energy saving is expected thanks to our energy efficient-products, high performing optimisation systems and unique Swegon WISE.
Swegon is an experienced and knowledgeable partner for complete solutions. We have a very long history of providing state-of-the-art solutions for great indoor climates. However, that might be wrongly interpreted as being a provider of products and systems that are not suitable for customisation or integration with external components. But indeed, our products are highly compliant and flexible, they communicate for instance with BMSs via Modbus TCP or BACnet IP, and we offer open and standardised REST APIs.
Having that said, our Swegon offer is definitely wide-ranging and there are numerous opportunities to benefit from the many values we bring into a project and still have the possibility to utilise extraordinary connections with third parties.
Learn more about Swegon
Products
A selection pf products provided to the project at Francisco Gervas