Citadines Hotel, Barbican

Apart’hotel picks heat recovery for greater comfort and efficiency

As part of a major refurbishment of the 129-unit Citadines Apart’hotel, near London’s Barbican complex, operator The Ascott Limited was looking for a heating alternative to provide enhanced guest comfort and greater cost efficiencies.

Apart’hotel picks heat recovery for greater comfort and efficiency

With the wall mounted 2kW electric heaters in place since the property opened – one in each studio apartment and two in the larger one bedroom apartments – room heating was costing up to £33 an hour under peak load. What’s more, the 150 electric heaters may have clocked up unnecessary costs if guests left them on when they went out – especially if they did not shut the windows. The Ascott Limited switched to Daikin VRV IV Heat Recovery systems. Each refurbished apartment has one or two Daikin vertical chassis fan coil units mounted in specially constructed bulkheads. Capacities depend on the apartment size and requirements, but include models with 3.2kW, 4kW and 5kW nominal heating.

Designed for high efficiency

Heating costs are expected to be considerably reduced, because the Daikin VRV IV Heat Recovery systems efficiently convert free energy from the air into useable heat. Further savings are expected through the down-rating of an old – but still serviceable – heat pump providing additional heat to the rooms via a DX coil in the hotel’s air handling unit.

Designed for high efficiency, Daikin VRV IV Heat Recovery systems allow simultaneous heating and cooling and offer a wide range of installation options with smaller, quieter and lighter branch selector boxes. Each floor is served by a 14hp or 18hp condensing unit, on a new steel platform in the rooftop plant area. The fan coil units deliver warm or cool air according to guests’ requirements, within a preset range. Daikin D1 installer Direct Cooling Services fitted refrigerant leak detection in every room – plus window switches so that everything is turned off when guests go out.