When The Glasgow School of Art decided to refurbish its
world famous Mackintosh Building, it knew that the introduction of
a competent and efficient building management system (BMS) would be
vital to the facility's ongoing success, both as a functional seat
of education and a historic place of interest.
The Mackintosh Building at The Glasgow School of Art is an icon
of late 19th and early 20th century architecture. Its status
is confirmed by Pevsner in 'Pioneers of Modern Design', through
specialist and public interest in Mackintosh, and through Category
A listing. As Charles Rennie Mackintosh's largest and most
critically acclaimed commission, the construction of the building
took place in two phases: 1896 and 1909.
Over the course of the 20th and 21st
centuries, The Glasgow School of Art has accepted the challenge and
responsibility of owning one of the city's most iconic buildings,
ensuring that it continues to be used for its original purpose:
motivating and inspiring future generations of artists, designers
and architects, while at the same time welcoming visitors that are
expected to swell in number from 20,000 per annum to in excess of
33,000.
In recent need of renovation, The Glasgow School of Art set
about carefully defining the project objectives: to conserve and
protect the building fabric; restore original features; better
manage visitor access to a working art school; and improve the
care, exhibition and access to archives and collections.
By far the biggest challenge for all of the contracted companies
invited to participate in the project was to bring the historic
building technically up-to-date while protecting the fabric and the
building's visual impact. In protecting the structure visually, new
plant and equipment must be installed discreetly. Among those
spearheading the task was consulting/building services engineers
Harley Haddow of Edinburgh, which worked as part of the design team
with project architects, Glasgow-based Page Park and ZM
Architects.
"One of the aims was to undo some of the alterations and
additions that have been carried out within the building over the
years," says Mark Napier, technical director at Harley Haddow.
"However, within the building the Architect created new spaces such
as a furniture gallery and shop, three archive and collection
stores, a research centre, as well as enhance the public tour
route."
Areas such as galleries and archive stores require environmentally
controlled conditions, a factor that isn't always easy to achieve
in listed buildings where fabric improvements such as double
glazing, and wall insulation are not always possible.
"We utilised existing vertical air shafts from the individual
art studios for natural stack ventilation. These were open to
atmosphere and causing excessive heat loss during the winter," says
Mr Napier. "To combat this we implemented motorised ventilation
dampers that help control the environmental conditions and
eliminate unnecessary heat loss from the building."
Modern technology in historic building needs to be discreet and
as such, remote and automatic control via modern BMS systems sits
well within this ethos.
Although The Glasgow School of Art already had an existing BMS to
control a number of other buildings on site, the importance of this
particular project dictated a thorough evaluation of the
marketplace to determine the most suitable system. The only proviso
was that if a different BMS was selected, it had to run on the same
PC due to limited space in the estates management office.
Building control and intelligence specialists, Priva Building
Intelligence Ltd, and DSK Controls (a Priva approved Partner
Company) were invited to present in front of representatives from
The Glasgow School of Art and Harley Haddow - making the case for
using a Priva BMS solution centred round a HX8E Compri controller
and TC Vision front end software. According to Martin Savage at DSK
Controls, "We were confident that our proposed solution would
exceed the client's requirements. Using an Ethernet bus connection
the system could be deployed on the same PC as the existing BMS,
thus not requiring additional hardware or floor space."
The Priva BMS also offers backward compatibility, integration with
other manufacturers' systems, as well as a platform for
future-proof building control.
Interoperability is a key concern as in most building refurbishment
projects there is a coming together of building services plus a
diverse range of communication systems.
For instance, BACnet over RS485 or IP is supported by most HVAC
control systems, while metering, chillers and inverters commonly
utilise Modbus. M-bus is used typically in the metering of
utilities, while two of the protocols employed in lighting are
EIB/KNX and DALI. In the management and interpretation of data, XML
is used for the exchange of data between web-based applications and
devices; LonWorks typically serves HVAC, lighting and process
devices on a network; OPC server and OPC client enables PC to PC
applications; and TCP/IP is used to transmit data across
communications networks, such as an organisation's IT network or
the internet.
"Few buildings deploy all of these protocols, but when specifying a
new BMS it is important they offer optimum interoperability in
order to integrate with existing plant and equipment," says DSK
Controls' Mr Savage. "Historic buildings in particular reap the
benefits of retaining usable installed equipment as it means no new
drilling or fixing is required."
The BMS must also provide a valid solution for the future. Priva
controllers support any temperature sensor, do not require screened
cabling and are equipped to communicate with a range of protocols.
Being of modular construction, additional input and output cards
can be easily added to accommodate any new plant control or
monitoring points. These features lead to future savings in both
capital cost and installation time.
The Priva BMS at The Glasgow School of Art controls low temperature
hot water (LTHW), variable temperature (VT), constant temperature
(CT), domestic hot water (DHW) and medium temperature hot water
(MTHW) circuits. It also controls fan convectors, radiant panels
(local control), natural ventilation dampers, three air handling
units (AHUs) and extraction fans.
Automated control and monitoring of the many and varied system
installations by the Priva BMS allows site engineers at Mackintosh
to concentrate on the planned maintenance of plant while ensuring
the correct protection to the fabric of the historic building.
Furthermore, monitoring of existing and new plant enables 'real
time' maintenance in place of calendar-based maintenance, providing
the site with a more efficient and cost effective regime. Any
deterioration or plant failures will be reported and resolved
without undue disturbance to the buildings' occupants.
Environmental responsibility is uppermost in the mind of The
Glasgow School of Art with closer monitoring of gas, electricity
and water usage. Opportunities for further energy savings will also
come from this enhanced monitoring, together with performance
optimisation of plant and equipment.
More information?
Our experts ar more than willing to advise you on the right
solution(s) for your situation.
Contact a Priva expert
A Priva Compri HX8E controller comprises multiple RS232 and
RS485 communications ports, as well as Ethernet ports for direct
connection to TCP/IP networks.
TC Vision is a PC application for local and remote control with
graphics, event and data logging, energy and runtime tables,
documentation and alarm overviews.
TC Vision quickly provides instructions on how to control and
manage the Priva building control system. For instance, energy
consumption curves or tables are displayed on the PC screen in just
a couple of mouse clicks, while different types of system messages
can be retrieved, evaluated, classified and analysed. This includes
communication, operating and failure messages from the Priva Compri
HX8E controller. There is also an option to store curve and table
data for use at a later date, for instance in a spreadsheet.
All internet applications can be combined with the Priva system.
The high processing speed, expansive memory and built-in security
provisions help ensure the reliability and continuity of the Priva
BMS.
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