Dean Clough Mill

VRV Heat Recovery helps reshape historic mill into comfortable offices

At Dean Clough in Halifax, Daikin VRV IV Heat Recovery systems provide year-round workplace comfort for 700 insurance company employees in a six storey former carpet mill. Both indoors and outdoors, system components have been installed sensitively to minimise impact on the historically significant building.

VRV Heat Recovery helps reshape historic mill into comfortable offices

Six-storey A & B mills is the oldest building on the 20-acre site of the former Crossley carpet factory, dating from 1840. The site is now a thriving, privately developed business centre with commercial, industrial, retail, arts and leisure elements. A & B Mills is occupied by French-based Covéa Insurance. Its air conditioning systems, chosen by the client to meet its requirement for advanced technology with energy efficiency a prerequisite, were installed by Bradford-based Daikin installer, Heatworks.

Craig Ayrton, Heatworks Director.

"Accommodating the air conditioning within the constraints of architectural and conservation requirements posed special challenges. The building has a 110 by 12 metre footprint, and is mostly open-plan office space with exposed ceilings. Several types of Daikin VRV fan coil units are installed, but most of the space heating and cooling is via exposed Roundflow cassettes with visible pipework. The low sound output of the new Daikin branch selector boxes is a big advantage in this installation.”

Installation on 'Sympathetic' plant tower

Condensing units could not be sited on the roof, for planning reasons, or on the ground, because there was not enough space. The compromise was a sympathetically designed, part-louvred, 6 by 3 metre steel plant tower at the rear of the building. There are separate ‘A’ and ‘B’ systems on each level, with access to the condensing units from the appropriate floor. Systems are centrally controlled through a Daikin iTouch Manager with an expansion module. There is also a BACnet gateway interface with expander board, to link the systems into an overall building management system.Each of the building’s air conditioning zones has a wired controller, which permits local adjustments within centrally specified limits.