Financial sector corporate occupiers with trading floors
Prestigious offices, Mayfair, London
Financial Sector Property Case Study - Prestigious offices, Mayfair, London
55,000
sq ft
office building
8
storey
multi-tenanted building – financial sector tenants
£247,000
project value,
comprising £180,000 chiller costs, 67,000 for associated systems and enabling works
Challenge
Vail Williams was appointed by an existing client, the landlord of a prestigious office building in Mayfair, for whom we provide full asset and facilities management, to advise on and project manage the replacement of two large rooftop coolers.
The coolers were having an adverse impact on the building service charge, as a result of increasing costs associated with major component failure and ongoing repair.
The chillers fed the financial sector tenants’ air conditioning systems and were business critical to the occupation and operation of their offices, and trading floor.
The coolers could no longer meet the cooling demands of the high-tech offices or operate with resilience during higher summer temperatures.
How we helped
- Planned for the replacement of the rooftop coolers with support of the tenants, who had long recognised and supported the need for renewal.
- Funded the project, thanks to our proactive lifecycle planning, drawing on the building’s sinking fund and service charge over several years, ensuring no cost to the client.
- Reviewed entire cooling strategy for the building to meet the changing demands of the building, and environmental objectives,
- Assessed alternative cooling strategies plant arrangement which could offer more efficiency or environmental benefits, taking into account planning and noise restriction requirements
- Issued tender invitations, with bids received (excl. associated works) between £180,000 – £298,000.
- Reviewed bids and recommend award to Thermozone, won on the basis of meeting the criteria, being cost-effective, avoiding craneage costs by being able to use Nu-Chill methodology to contain the installation within existing chiller footprint and cabinets,
- Carried out due diligence to assess this approach, visiting other large buildings where this strategy had been implemented, inspecting workmanship, and speaking to clients, FMs and maintenance teams.
- Managed the period of design consultancy involving Thermozone and our specialist refrigeration and M & E consultant
- Chiller 1 dismantled and replaced, with a brief cessation throughout Lockdown 1.0. with Chiller 2 completing in April 2021.
Results
- Thanks to effective asset management strategy, facilities management, and project management expertise, we ensured the replacement of the plant machinery on budget, at no cost to our landlord client.
- The plant was successfully installed, achieving energy savings of 35%, which are expected to increase to 50% saving on demand with full occupation.
- Achieved ESEER energy efficiency rating of 5.0 – 20% higher than objective, which will help towards improving the building’s EPC rating.
- Since completion, new coolers have achieved 100% up-time, even during the hottest weather, and all offices have been kept cooled to a more comfortable level.
- Additional savings were achieved thanks to the new plant’s efficiency which reduced running time by 156 hours a year. Ongoing energy efficiency and performance monitored by RODEM link
- Estimated project savings by not using traditional craned replacement methodology, circa £72,000.
- Reduced capital expenditure on maintenance by approximately £25,000 a year and operational expenditure by £3,000 per annum.
- Payback from energy saving for the improvements that relate directly to the energy saving equipment is 2.7 years, representing excellent return on investment.
Get in touch
If you think you may need similar support to that described here, or you would simply want to have an informal chat with a member of our team to discuss your property needs, get in touch.
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