With the help of solar shading specialists BAB Projects, Wellcome Trust has improved the effectiveness of its motorised blinds system to restore good-as-new performance at the Gibbs Building on Euston Road.
This has been achieved with minimal disruption and in an environmentally acceptable way, with much of the existing hardware retained, repaired and restored to good working order.
The Wellcome Trust is a medical research charity dedicated to improving human and animal health. Ethical concerns, including care for the environment and the welfare of its employees are therefore core values. To avoid solar heat gain and discomfort due to glare, the glass-fronted Gibbs Building has in-built shading and a thermal barrier, a gap of approximately one metre between the outer glazing and inner building skin. Within this space the motorised shading, installed as original equipment, regulates natural light with operation controlled by the building management system (BMS).
Seeking a refurbishment contractor capable of dealing with systems from several shading suppliers and evaluating performance and repairing/upgrading on a rational basis, Wellcome identified BAB Projects. This is the major projects division of shading supply and maintenance company, Bright A Blind, who specialise in the economic management and maintenance of all types of internal and external shading systems. A detailed site survey was undertaken by BAB technicians, led by project manager Wayne Halligan.
Original equipment installed on the building included 430 external venetian blinds (EVB’s), mostly in the thermal break, and 164 roof tension blinds. Detailed examination of every unit revealed the condition of each component. In most assessments repair was found to be an economic option with the need for only 170 complete new blinds.
Wayne Halligan detailed the scope of the work, “Refurbishing the blinds required the renewal of ladder tapes, control tapes and thorough cleaning of the individual blades. New motors were installed throughout. New transformers, actuators and a weather station were also added. Power cabling to the systems was tested and found to be in a satisfactory condition, as was the control circuit. This was retained with the addition of hub repeaters to boost control signal strength.”
A new control system, independent from the BMS, was fitted. This was sourced from the leading company in this field, Warema, makers of the Climatronic system. BAB technical staff undertook training in Germany to fully appreciate the capability of this system. A bespoke program was then developed for the building, with automation elements, but placing the emphasis on occupier control so that in each work zone occupants could regulate light and cooling to meet their needs.
As proof of principle, a trial installation was undertaken on floor eight. This comprised 33 new blinds with localised control. This was important, not just to prove the performance of the proposed systems but to establish the most effective method of working before extending the system to the rest of the building.
Success with the initial phase led to the treatment being extended to the entire building. The work took six months to complete with the removal, refitting, control system installation and commissioning all scheduled outside working hours to minimise disruption.
Stephen Aproskie, project manager in the Wellcome building services team, observed, “It is important to create the best working environment possible for our employees. We could have taken out the original system and started afresh, but this would have been costly, highly disruptive and not environmentally friendly.
"Since the overhaul, staff report higher levels of satisfaction – not least because they have more direct control of their working environment.”
