LG is one of the prime suppliers of air conditioning equipment across the globe and is rapidly building its market share in the UK. Its reputation is growing as more and more customers select LG products ahead of the competition. One such customer is leading engineering consultancy, Cundall
Cundall has developed into an international multi-disciplinary consultancy providing building services engineering, civil engineering, structural engineering and sustainable design services for the built environment across the globe.
Its new offices in the heart of Birmingham are impressive.
Cundall has taken the fourth floor in one of Birmingham’s most prestigious buildings, Cathedral Court at 15 Colmore Row, whose frontage overlooks the city’s St Phillip’s cathedral and the city’s main business centre, as well as Snow Hill Station – the gateway to the city for so many thousands of regular commuters.
Cundall has exposed and expressed its engineering design skills in the fit-out of these new offices achieving an office design that lifts the spirits while achieving a practical and effective office. Indeed it has achieved an SKA Gold rating, the highest possible environmental rating. It was as important to Cundall that the great design also delivered good value for money, investing in their people – the quality of the office environment and location would help them to attract and retain the best staff which will be key in the years ahead - and the location allows them to offer the best service to their clients – being in the heart of the key business district and easily accessible, for those walking, using public transport and with adequate car parking facilities close by.
Vitally their staff and visitors to the building needed to be comfortable and that’s where LG came into the equation, providing the most advanced heating and cooling equipment, but importantly the most easily controlled environment, using complex but simple to operate equipment so Cundall’s team was always in control. In a simple, if ground breaking move, the fit-out ensured that windows could be opened! And heating and cooling could quickly respond to changing temperatures and air flows.
Cundall retained access to the landlord’s centralised air handling plant whilst renewable energy was harnessed by the VRF heat pumps. Distributor LG Comfort Cooling, who specialise in the supply of LG equipment, provided two LG Multi V IV heat recovery VRF units providing a total of 56kW of cooling and 63kW of heating to eleven individual indoor units across the office.
The heat recovery units enable the indoor units of the system to operate independently of each other in either cooling or heating modes – increasing the responsiveness across the floor space. The performance of these VRF units is genuinely sector leading with, in the case of synchronised operation, the total rate of return – both in cooling (EER) and heating (COP) - able to reach 8.5. In addition to the excellent performance characteristics, the LG equipment is popular with installers due to its ease of installation and lighter weight – the compressor inverter has unique features including unique compressor technology that improves performance and reduces its weight by around 50% over comparable competitor equipment.
The system is controlled by LG’s AC Smart Premium touch screen central control. It features a user friendly, high resolution, graphic user interface (GUI) with a 10.2 inch touch screen. Selecting the AC Smart eliminated the need for a dedicated third-party Building Management System (BMS), cutting further cost for BMS hardware and integration.
Cundall’s new Birmingham office is already in line for a number of awards and visitors will see why very quickly. It could be just the first of many buildings that have benefitted from LG technology and expertise that will be collecting ‘gongs’ in the next year or so…..