Installation of mechanical services at the newly refurbished Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge wasn’t an easy task. Francis McNulty, Contracts Manager at Kerrigan Mechanical and the rest of the team were tasked with a full supply and install of mechanical works into a hotel at full occupancy. The package of works consisted of the refurbishment to the lower ground floor coffee, bar and restaurant areas including meeting rooms and a full supply and install of a new hot water plantroom which would serve the entire hotel. Further project scope was to install thermostatic blending valves to over 300 existing hotel rooms.
Air conditioning, ventilation, heating and plumbing were also required for the new extension to the roof of the building, made up of 45 new guest bedrooms. A Hybrid VRF air conditioning system, the most advanced AC system on the market, was also installed to provide heating and cooling in the new bedrooms.
All these services had to be installed while the hotel remained fully operational.
“It was essential that we didn’t cause any disruption to guests throughout the works. We held regular toolbox talks on site about being mindful when it comes to noise but also about our presentation to the public. (No high vis jackets or hard hats were permitted in public areas). At all times, we had to consider the environment in which we were working,” said Francis. This wasn’t your typical building site; instead of using the main entrance, workers used the back scaffolding to enter the hotel and also utilised the crane as much as possible. A night works schedule was also implemented in order to ensure guests weren’t disturbed.
“Between 2am and 4am, we shut down the hot water system in order to incorporate our new hot water system into the existing services. The night works installations proved very successful and allowed us to complete the switch over with minimum down-time.”
Kerrigan Mechanical installed ACV hot water boilers with 4000 litres of storage supplied by C&F Quadrant. The state-of-the-art Hybrid VRF system installed by the company is one that’s relatively new to hotels.
“We teamed up with Crystal Air to install that particular piece of equipment, it’s very specialist. It’s a water-based system rather than a system that works through refrigeration pipes. Mitsubishi was the supplier of all the units. We hadn’t installed it in any project before this one but we’re actually using it on another job at present.”
One of the obsticles with this project was meeting the deadline while trying to ensure minimum disruption to hotel operations throughout the build. “Every hotel room in the building had to remain live. Usage of the crane was limited, we could only crane items up at very specific times and we could only use drills at certain times too. Consideration for guests was key throughout.”
This was the first time that Kerrigan Mechanical had worked with the main contractor Monami Construction.
“Since delivering Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge, we have completed another two projects with Monami so it turned out to be a great job for us. Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge was delivered on time and within budget. We’re very proud of the work we carried out on this job and delighted to be continuing to build an excellent relationship with Monami, Patrick McCaul Engineers and Dalata Group.”
Kerrigan Mechanical, Athboy Business Park, Athboy, Co Meath
T: 00353 (0)46 943 0529
W: www.kerriganmechanical.ie
Each of these banks contains two ACV HeatMaster 120 TC systems, which work in conjunction with a Jumbo 1000, providing over 1000 litres of storage. “We went with two banks as we were tasked with providing some redundancy in the event of a failure in one of the systems,” said Michael Hempenstall, Commercial Heating Division at C&F Quadrant.
The ACV HeatMaster units are capable of bringing the temperature of the hot water up to 75°C. “That’s quite unusual, normally you would bring the temperature up to 60°C. The reason for the raised temperature is to get a higher performance out of the units. That water would be brought from the 75/70°C down to 60°C for distribution around the system via a blending valve.” The gas-fired units supplied by C&F Quadrant differ from similar products on the market. “The HeatMaster 120 TC systems don’t contain a coil; instead, they consist of an inner stainless steel tank surrounded by an outer steel tank which means no glass lined steel or anode protection is required.”
The most complicated element of the job was, says Michael, determining what the actual load for the building was. “Initially we started off covering two people in every room having a shower at the same time. We then applied a diversity to the domestic hot water requirement that the design team and customer were happy with. We brought that initial cost right down to the minimum amount so today, the quantity of water basically covers one shower per room at peak period. The system is working very well. We’re delighted to have been involved in this project.”
C&F Quadrant Unit L40 Charry Orchard Industrial Estate, Dublin 10.
T: 01 630 5757
Fifty-three new rooms at the Clayton Hotel Ballsbridge are benefitting from a new Mitsubishi Hybrid VRF Air Conditioning System, installed by Crystal Air.
“This was very much an introduction for us to the Hybrid VRF. After installing it in the Ballsbridge Hotel, we went on to install it in the Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, which was a much larger project. Having the opportunity to use the new technology on a smaller project first and iron out any issues was great,” said Don Hoban, Business Development Manager at Crystal Air.
There are several advantages to installing the Hybrid VRF system. Temperatures in rooms are much more comfortable and the system makes very little noise. “Utilising this system also avoids the need for refrigerant leak detection in hotel bedrooms, which amounts to a major cost saving.”
Through this project, Crystal Air has forged excellent links with Kerrigan Mechanical and is working with the contractor on further projects.
Crystal Air, Unit 3, Butterstream Business Park, Clane, Co.Kildare.
T: 00353 (0) 45 893228
W: www.crystalair.ie
