Project Details

E2 Services were approached by The RAC to help develop and deliver a solution for upgrading their obsolete BMS installations at their control centres on the M5 and M6 Motorways. A comprehensive site survey was carried out to determine how the buildings were operating under the dictates of the old control systems, and the scale of potential energy savings that could be achieved by upgrading the BMS and reconfiguring the building HVAC operation.

Solution and Delivery

The logistics of upgrading the control equipment while maintaining a 24/7 call centre operation required careful consideration and planning in collaboration with the site FM team. Works in occupied areas required access above suspended ceilings and below raised floors to allow the obsolete network wiring to be replaced and new terminal unit controllers to be fitted.
The main heating control MCC panel at the M6 site was in a poor state of repair and a replacement panel was designed to match the wiring configuration of the existing panel to allow a swift changeover during a quieter weekend period with no disruption to the building’s staff.
The redesigned control strategies were engineered to ensure comfort conditions are met while minimising energy consumption. This includes both optimisation of the existing plant operation and implementation of a software strategy to shift the electrical load of HVAC plant from times of peak cost to cheaper periods.
The combination the optimised control strategies and peak load reduction are projected to provide combined energy savings of up to 1,200,000kWh, equivalent to a cost reduction of £50,000 per annum per site, equating to an overall energy reduction 20%. As part of the works new electrical metering and monitoring solutions were installed on each site to allow the energy performance to be carefully monitored and verified in line with the anticipated savings.

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