In partnership with Brighton & Hove council, Vital Energi devised a scheme to supply heat and hot water to a large number of students and residents within the Circus Street development. The scheme was designed on the unique site requirements, utilising 3D modelling software and bespoke acoustic adaptions. There was a push for green energy on the site and so we provided a low carbon heating and hot water solution to supply the student and residential accommodation and retail space, and reduce environmental impact in the area.
On the site of a 2.4 acre derelict municipal market, Circus Street is a project by Cathedral Limited to regenerate the area into an innovation quarter. The scheme is a £130 million public private partnership with Brighton and Hove Council which will create over 400 new jobs and will see the creation of a 450-bed student accommodation, 142 residential properties, 30,000 sq ft of office space, and a public square with shops, cafes, restaurants and a dance studio.
The client required a scheme that could serve a large number of residents and students, along with all but two office blocks, therefore we created an Energy Profile for the development which included predicted heat usage following data analysis a solution was designed and implemented that included a 210kWe CHP engine, 9x240kW gas boilers and 4x5000L thermal stores.
We have ensured that there will be sufficient equipment for the demand by designing 8 boilers to cover the peak site load and 1 boiler as a standby source.
The energy centre was required to be installed in the basement of a student accommodation building which had very limited space. In order to ensure that our design would be appropriate for the space, we used a specialist 3D modelling software which would highlight any potential issues with the location and operation of the equipment easily and ensure precision fit prior to stating construction. This allows us to confirm the quality of design and prevent potential problems during the build which increases project efficiencies.
As the energy centre is located in a tight space, we designed the thermal stores to be located external to the energy centre plant room in order to have the area required for this large equipment.
