In May 2019, Briggs & Forrester contacted Colt to assist them with designing, manufacturing and installing a fume ventilation system for a military client in Wiltshire.

The building in question was an old airplane hangar that was being refurbished to house the facility’s forklifts, raising concerns about CO fumes building up in the space. Once our specialists had surveyed the building and considered the solutions that would work most effectively, we set to work on designing a crossflow ventilation system that would effectively control the CO levels in the building.

We recently worked on a project with the Newhurst Energy-from-Waste facility where the customer wanted to try a new design approach that led to some interesting modelling results we wanted to share with you.

To give some context around the building design, the Newhurst power generation facility is much like any other power generation building – a large, mainly open structure that is around 40 metres tall. Inside the building, large steam turbines, boilers and other processes are constantly producing high levels of heat that needs to be managed in order to keep the interior conditions stable for both the benefit of the staff and the energy-producing processes.

A typical climate control solution for this type of building would be a natural ventilation approach, consisting of natural ventilation openings in the external envelope of the buildings at both high and low-level. With this type of system, cooler outside air tends to flow into the building through ventilation openings in the lower half of the building, and warm air flows out of the building through natural ventilation openings in the upper half of the building. This is commonly referred to as displacement or stack ventilation system.

To achieve the right temperature, humidity and air quality in a power plant whilst keeping costs low, you must understand the differences between natural ventilation systems and mechanical ventilation systems.

In the majority of power plant cases, natural ventilation is the ideal solution. In this blog post, we will explain why this is the case, and highlight cases where mechanical ventilation would be recommended.

Case Study: Crabtree Manorway, Belvedere

The Crabtree Manorway “Warehouse” in Belvedere is a secure facility that has been purpose-built for the Met Police to undertake fleet maintenance and other official police duties. The project consisted of 4 individual buildings, each with their own requirements and system types, making this quite a unique project, greatly benefitting from Colt’s considerable experience and expertise.

It is commonly known that underground car parks need to be ventilated to remove the build-up of exhaust fumes and in some instances for smoke ventilation. However, another common problem that is less discussed is the need for ventilation in underground car parks and basements where overheating occurs due to air conditioning condenser units being installed within them. This is the problem that we helped our clients at “Discovery” solve.

To understand why this issue occurs, let’s start with a basic explanation of how a traditional AC system operates and how it should be installed to get the maximum performance out of it. Typically, traditional air conditioning systems have an internal and external unit that work together to exchange warmth and coolth to achieve the desired internal temperature. In the summertime, the air conditioning system provides cool air by actually removing heat from the indoor air, transferring it to outside through a pipe circuit filled with refrigerant.

Colt was recently commissioned to work on a project at a car parts manufacturing plant that required some creative thinking when it came to fume extract.

This particular facility had large galvanizing tanks used as part of the manufacturing process. The existing extract fans which were located directly above the tanks had been out of service for some time. Their location meant it was extremely difficult to access for maintenance, and repairs. Repairing the existing fans would require extensive scaffolding equipment to be set up and many days of production lost which was impractical and not cost effective.

Case study: Brompton Bicycles

In June 2017 Colt was approached by the iconic British bikes brand, Brompton, to provide a ventilation solution that would help them overcome brazing fume issues and more generally overheating issues in their new manufacturing facility. Having recently moved their manufacturing hub from Kew to Greenford, they required a new ventilation system to deal with brazing fumes and poor air quality, associated overheating issues and also a lack of air movement in the assembly areas and meeting spaces on a mezzanine floor.

In a recent Economist Magazine, the editor decided to include an article on a topic that Colt has been talking about for a while now, but which is finally receiving the attention it deserves because of the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. That topic is the important role that fresh, indoor air in schools and workplaces has in contributing to improving the health and wellbeing of a building’s occupants.

Colt has worked on numerous wastewater and sewage treatment plant projects and has an advanced understanding of the ventilation strategies and regulations surrounding this sector, which are often more stringent and complex than other project types. Regulations and guidance that govern design criteria in this sector often cover all elements of the building spec, including water, electrical, cables, controls, ventilation, etc. making an experienced designer and contractor extremely valuable when it comes to saving time and money.

Evaporative cooling or ‘adiabatic cooling’ is a mouthful, we know. That’s why a lot of building owners and operators still don’t know about the effectiveness of these systems or the cost and environmental benefits they can deliver.

Many people don’t realise that if you manage a large industrial or semi-industrial facility where pinpoint control of temperature isn’t crucial, evaporative cooling can actually be a more effective choice than traditional air conditioning. Just have a look at the pros and cons associated with the different system types below – not only is evaporative cooling cheaper and more efficient, it introduces fresh air from outside avoiding poor health issues often associated with traditional systems.

Read on to find out what evaporative coolers are and why they could be better for your business than a traditional air conditioning system.

Case study: MRT Castings in Andover

There are many challenges to overcome when designing an effective ventilation system for industrial environments, including overheating, air quality, humidity and noise.

In this particular blog, we wanted to share our experience in helping one of our die casting customers – MRT Castings – install a new industrial ventilation solution that would overcome overheating issues in their new foundry.

With more online ordering than ever and customers expecting goods to be delivered rather than picked up, warehouses and logistics centres have never been busier. From a health and safety perspective, this can cause problems when staff are sharing workplaces with vans, trucks and other fume-producing vehicles on a daily basis. Adequate ventilation in these centres is absolutely crucial.

The case study below demonstrates how Colt helped create a safe, healthy atmosphere for the staff at the DHL warehouse in Lincoln with a tailored fume detection and hybrid ventilation solution.

To prevent an excessive build-up of carbon monoxide (CO) from diesel engines in enclosed spaces, sufficient ventilation must be provided. This will ensure that the stipulations of the Approved Document F (ADF) are met and that good air quality is sustained.

As we all get to grips with the latest lockdown, businesses have to explore new ways of working in a COVID-19 secure manner. So how can you ensure that your workplace, be it a factory, warehouse or office, is properly prepared to reduce the risk of the spread of Coronavirus amongst your workforce.

In our previous blog we explored some of the latest scientific theory surrounding the potential for the airborne spread of COVID-19 through building ventilation. For building managers it is very important to be fully aware of every step they can take to limit the transmission of contaminants in the workplace.

In this blog we aim to suggest some practical steps you can take to make your building COVID-19 resilient – it’s important to remember that where viruses are concerned the realistic goal is to make your building ‘safer’ rather than ‘safe’. It’s simply not possible to eradicate completely the potential of a COVID-19 outbreak in a typical workplace as there are other factors, beyond your control, which come into play.

As the scientific knowledge around the spread of the Coronavirus continues to develop, it is important to know which information is both correct and relevant for ventilation systems. The airborne potential of COVID-19 is high according to a recent report by the British Medical Journal which stated that microscopic respiratory droplets containing COVID-19 can hover in the air for minutes or even hours, and potentially drift many metres horizontally. Therefore, it is necessary for the air ventilation industry to be fully up to date with the latest theory around the capability for the airborne transmission of COVID-19.