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Ability EC/DC Fan Coil Units in Landmark BREEAM Rated Bristol Office Complex
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The prestigious Paragon office building, close to Bristol’s historic St Nicholas market, is one of just a mere handful in the south west of the country to be granted a BREEAM “excellent” rating. Air conditioned throughout by Ability Projects MATRIX I EC/DC fan coil units, the £35 million development is a key component of the city’s regeneration programme.
Offering some 75,000ft² of grade ‘A’ office accommodation with ancillary retail space, the 6 storey Paragon also features the high level of insulation and ‘air tightness’ required by BREEAM. Air conditioning is supplied to the office floors by 94 concealed ceiling cassette, 4 pipe MATRIX I EC/DC fan coil units with maximum nominal cooling and heating capacities of 5.06kW, operating at NR34 noise rating at 30pa Pascals resistance.
The Matrix fan coil system is unique in the UK in providing infinitely variable speed control of the entire fan coil unit as well as each fan within it, enabling each air duct to be balanced for air volume through fan speed alone, thus removing the need for costly, noisy volume control dampers and their time consuming installation. Matrix I fan coils are also designed to adjust the overall air volume according to room occupancy, thermal demand or a combination of the two.
The Matrix I system is fitted with a BACnet open protocol intelligent controller, factory pre wired to the fan coil and complete with dedicated software. Developed specifically for use on Ability Matrix fan coil units, this controller not only incorporates modulating valve control and on coil temperature sensing etc – it also offers system users wireless, lap top access to all fan coil features and settings without the need for access to the ceiling void. The air conditioning as well as other advanced mechanical and electrical building services including under floor heating, ventilation, flexible power services, intelligent lighting, open protocol BMS and other services were engineered by Crown House Technology.
