Keeping things cool on an aging campus

We’ve worked with the University of Canterbury for over a decade, helping them update and manage building services across their campus. So, when they went to market for consultants to do a cooling feasibility study for their Geography and Psychology building, we put our hand up to help.

Project Manager David Slater explains the problem the university’s facilities management team faced. “A lot of buildings on the UC campus have heating and cooling issues due to aging infrastructure. The Geography and Psychology building is a 1960s building. In the summer, it gets ridiculously hot. There’s only passive ventilation, so you can open a window, but on a hot Norwest day when it goes over 30 degrees, it doesn't really help the situation.”

“On top of that, the building had a change of use when the audiology department moved in about four years ago. It’s no longer used as classrooms. Now each of the rooms has an internal audio booth where the audiology team conduct sound lab experiments. And that compounds the situation because those booths get even hotter.” 



“We decided to seek the services of a mechanical contractor to provide us with a feasibility study outlining solutions for cooling the building. Honoris were awarded the contract. Our biggest criteria in choosing a partner are their capability and how they approach a project. Innovation is one of our big drivers. The university is strong on seeking the best solution. We look for whole of life value, not the cheapest option.” 

David recalls how the project progressed. “First we met with the people using the building to determine the true extent of the problem. This particular building is mainly a clinic, so we interviewed the clinical heads to understand how the cooling issues were affecting them. And we’ve a building management system, so we also gathered data to determine how hot it was getting in each room, and the duration of the problem during the day.”

“Once we had a full understanding of what was going wrong, we went back and looked at the original scope of work to understand if it was still going to meet our needs. This is where Honoris really started to add value.” 



“The original scope was simply to install a chiller on the roof and fan coil units within the building. But the feasibility study prepared by Honoris showed that for the building to condition the spaces effectively, we also needed to circulate mechanical fresh air. Honoris showed that installing cooling was only going to solve half of the issue but including mechanical fresh air would additionally mitigate the poor ventilation to the internal spaces”

“And Honoris did more problem solving. Originally we were going to install a chiller on the roof. But the feasibility study identified constraints. The roof is a restricted zone so we couldn't gain much access and we didn't want to disturb operations up there. Luckily there's an existing cold-water network, so we looked at flow rates and current capacity and worked out it was viable for us to tap into that network to bring chilled water into the building by the service riser. This saved the cost of the chiller itself, plus reduced overall project risk by avoiding lifting heavy machinery onto the roof of a building in the middle of a busy campus.” 



“While Honoris were working with our internal mechanical team they discovered yet another curveball. The neighbouring building was also doing a cooling upgrade, and they were planning to tap into the cold-water network too. So, we had to liaise with their consultants to make sure there was capacity to service both buildings. It was good coordination by both parties.”

Fitting in with existing services 

Installing new services into existing buildings isn’t always easy. You have to work around existing infrastructure, often in constrained spaces. And it’s important to make sure new services are practical to install, operate and maintain. It can be a delicate jigsaw to design.



David agrees, “This particular project isn’t the most complex I’ve seen, but there is quite a raft of existing services in the ceiling void. And we have to install ducts for the mechanical fresh air, which isn’t straight forward. A lot of it is down to the contractor who installs the new services, but the design from Honoris has an impact on how easy the services are to install and how much disruption the installation causes to the people using the building.” 

David has tips for other campus project managers. “One of my big learnings has been the time it takes to design services. With my previous experience on big building contracts, I've come in when designs were complete. Whereas now I’m working on design and procurement, and it’s been nearly a year in the making. So be patient. These projects take time.”

“The other big learning for me was the importance of communication. In a busy campus, you can’t ring fence a building and have free rein. So, communication's paramount. There are always going to be issues that arise, so it's about being open and honest.” 

Communication and campus knowledge

David says, “We’ve built a good rapport with Honoris as a project team. They’ve been fantastic with their communication. And we’ve been lucky with their extensive knowledge of the campus. I was completely new to the university, so they front footed simple things for me, like finding the plant room key. And they had my back because when you’re new you don’t know what you don’t know, so every so often they’d give me a gentle steer.”

‘Honoris also added value by identifying and highlighting project constraints, and systematically working through them, solving problems as they came up. And they added a bit of innovation, which we really value, by recommending the need for mechanical fresh air.”

“We’ve just been to market for a contractor to install the new cooling system. Once we start work, Honoris will monitor construction to make sure what they’ve proposed is what's installed. Quality control is important. With mechanical engineering you not only have to check pipes and units, but you also have to check flow rates and pressures.”

Engage us to do a feasibility study for your building services

Slotting new heating and cooling services into an existing building is rarely straight forward. Whether you’re considering buying a building, or renovating one you already own, building services are expensive, so it pays to get them right from the start. 

Understand your options and identify any obstacles before they trip you up. If you’d like to book a services feasibility study for your building get in touch. We’re here to help.