Remeha boilers are part of refurbishment work at the Old Bailey
As part of a 10-year £43 million refurbishment of The Central Criminal Court for England & Wales [the Old Bailey] Remeha floor-standing boilers have been installed to replace oil-fired steam boilers. The building is managed by the City of London Corporation and houses 18 courts and 52 cells over three floors. For the last 50 years, it has relied on four ornate steam boilers.
The age of the steam boilers, dating from 1967, and the growing difficulty in sourcing spare parts made it essential to refurbish the heating service. The City of London’s prime concerns were to improve energy performance and reduce building emissions in line with its strategy for improved air quality within the Square Mile. A consortium of Interserve Engineering Services, lead designers AECOM, project managers WSP, HOK architects and cost consultants Gleeds won the 10-year contract.
AECOM, working with Interserve recommended replacing the four steam boilers with seven Remeha Gas 610 Eco Pro boilers in a 4-phase installation programme to meet the heating requirements. Each court has two sittings each day. Planning the works progress was a lengthy process as the Central Criminal Court must remain available for court sittings throughout the refurbishment.
Richard Morgan, associate director with AECOM, explained, ‘To avoid disrupting trials, the entire refurbishment project has had to be planned as a live changeover. This means that only two courts are out of action for three months at a time. It’s been a real feat of logistical engineering.’
The decision was taken to install new boilers in the original 1907 coal boiler room in a parallel installation to the steam boilers in the second plant room. That plant room now contains the first three of the new boilers in a modular arrangement. They serve the LTHW radiator system throughout the building. Owing to the age of the heating system, AECOM recommended water treatment to ensure improved water quality.
The Remeha boilers were dismantled, making access to the basement plant room much quicker and easier, before they were reassembled.
Plate heat exchangers were fitted to achieve hydraulic separation.
This part of the services upgrade is now complete. The four additional boilers will be installed in the next few years to complete the heating refurbishment.
