Orion Group

HM Air Cooling stars as part of the £3million office development for the Orion Group

Commercial and retail premises are core business for the Four Seasons Group and they do not come more impressive than £3.4 million office refurbishment of 23 Gatwick Road in Crawley.

Appointed by Slater Michael LLP and Northridge Capital Limited, the Orion Group asked HM Air Cooling Ltd, part of the Four Seasons Group to provide the air conditioning and ventilation for the 62,495 sq.ft site which includes 2 floors.

The Orion Group are experienced refurbishment contractors which specialise in the design and build of commercial and industrial premises. HM Air Cooling has worked with Orion on past projects including a full mechanical refurb of the 6 storey, Marsh Wall building, close to Canary Warf. On this occasion the total value of the project was in excess of £ 1 million and involved the replacement of rooftop Trane chillers, MHS boilers, VAV Trox units, and LPHW pipe work.

Having already displayed the necessary resources and project management skills to successfully complete a project of this type and size, the Orion Group was keen to work with HM Air Cooling.

"Orion Group have a longstanding relationship with HM Air Cooling on this type of project and once again the project at Gatwick 23 was a great success and we look forward to working with them in the near future on similar projects." Liam Kinch, Projects Director, Orion Group.

As part of a proposal which was prepared by Simon Gray, Project Manager of HM Air Cooling, the company was able to differentiate itself from its competitors by offering the client a design which was value engineered to save the client money. Removing heating and cooling plant to the air handling equipment utilised the Heat recovery ventilation system. As a result of this the client benefitted from lower installation and running costs.

The project was completed in June 2008 and was planned to an 8 month schedule. This was a unique project for H M Air Cooling as they developed the mechanical services design having been provided with the performance specification by the
consultants FHP.

Following a change in tenancy the land lord took the opportunity to refurbish the entire building and replace out dated equipment, installing 8 Heat Recovery VRVIII outdoor condensing units, manufactured by Daikin and supplied by Space Air.

Ducted units were selected as the building was vacant and it was planned that a ducted system would provide a base build installation offering flexibility and adaption for the installation of cellular offices in the future. VES Heat recovery equipment was also chosen in all cases to ensure ECA benefits and to attain a good BREEAM rating for the building

The project was managed efficiently and for this reason it was finished on time and on budget to satisfy the value promise. HM Air Cooling already provides the maintenance on many of their sites and also recently completed another installation at the Tanberg EMEA headquarters in Staines. This was a fast track installation which required HM Air Cooling to design and install the air conditioning and ventilation and it is expected that this will be followed by other similar contracts with the Orion Group in the future.