Crowne Plaza, Basingstoke

Hotel’s happy as heat recovery air conditioning heads off heatwave

Built some 30 years ago, a Basingstoke hotel originally had no air conditioning dates from an era when air conditioning – and this was a common cause of complaint from guests. After a change in ownership and a rebranding to Crowne Plaza, the 140 bedroom hotel with bar, restaurant, gym and eight function rooms was targeted for a massive phased upgrade.

Hotel’s happy as heat recovery air conditioning heads off heatwave

The upgrade included air conditioning with concealed slim ceiling units for bedrooms and Roundflow cassettes for public areas. A Daikin VRV IV heat recovery system was specified throughout. The system as a whole is controlled through a Daikin i-Touch Manager, mounted in the general manager’s office, and providing fingertip control of every outdoor and indoor unit to maximise efficiency and ensure that operating costs are kept within limits. When the July 2018 heatwave struck, all but 50 of the guest rooms and four of the function rooms had been refurbished and upgraded to Daikin air conditioning.

Vinay Malhotra, General Manager

“When the mercury rose sharply at the start of the heatwave we had a spate of complaints from guests in the unrefurbished rooms. With help from Direct Cooling Services, our air conditioning contractor, we brought in some portable units as a temporary measure and there were no more complaints. But there was no negative feedback at all from guests in the rest of the hotel during the summer.”

The final phase adds two more Daikin VRV IV condensing units to the 10 already installed, giving the hotel more than 300hp of air conditioning power. The heat recovery condensing units are mounted in a line on a large flat roof section above the gym. FXDQ-A slim ducted units in the guest rooms are mounted above newly lowered ceilings in the entrance passages. The units are activated by card keys, while simplified room controllers give guests the ability to vary the temperature within preset limits. All rooms have opening windows, so there is no requirement for mechanical ventilation. The system as a whole is controlled through a Daikin i-Touch Manager.