Seeking an innovative and sustainable option for their site welfare facilities, John Sisk and Sons, approached Solaris Energy to provide an energy efficient answer to their heating and cooling needs at their new development project at Wembley Park, London.

A leading construction and engineering company, with an established history of expertise in key sectors, the company is invested in taking energy efficient approaches.

This project, undertaken for award winning development and asset management company Quintain, aimed to minimise energy consumption and embodied carbon emissions during the construction phase of thew Wembley Park development

Traditional Challenges:

Site welfare facilities are assembled from transportable, stackable modular cabins and traditionally rely on electric heaters, air conditioning units, and point-of-use water heaters., leading to high energy consumption. This not only increases running costs and the embodied carbon footprint of the project, but also generates unnecessary waste as the equipment is typically discarded after each project

Seeking a sustainable solution:

The Mobile Energy Plant was a collaborative solution developed between Solaris Energy, heat pump manufacturer Kronoterm, and ADR Consulting (mechanical consultants). This MEP offered several key features:

• Mobility: A 20-foot container design allows for easy transport and extends the lifespan of the unit beyond a single project.

• Plug-and-Play Functionality: The self-contained system houses all necessary plant for operation and maintenance within the container itself.

• Reduced Energy Consumption: Heat pump technology significantly reduces heating energy consumption by harnessing renewable sources, in this case air and waste heat from cooling.

• Simultaneous Heating and Cooling: The MEP incorporates systems to address the facility's unique requirement for both heating and cooling.

• Waste Heat Capture: The system recovers waste heat generated during cooling to further enhance efficiency and provide additional heating or hot water.

• Preheated Hot Water: Pre-heated water supply minimises energy consumption of point-of-use water heaters and eliminates the need for local legionella prevention measures.

• Remote System Monitoring: The MEP offers remote access for real-time monitoring of performance and system health.

Designs Considerations:

System effectiveness relies heavily on building integration -lower flow temperatures within a building result in reduced electrical usage for heat pumps. Through a thermal modelling of the building, we were collectively able to utilise radiators and fan coils to provide efficient heating and cooling circuits. Copper piping was chosen for reusability and recycling on facility decommissioning. 3D modelling of the MEP facilitated accurate material estimates and equipment placement, and a tunnel container with an access door was selected for easy maintenance access to all components.

Results:

The MEP actively demonstrates the viability of sustainable temporary welfare facilities in construction projects: it has achieved significant results, including reducing Sisk's site energy bill, by around £10,000 per month even though energy prices have risen, and has achieved a reduction of 14 tonnes of carbon so far this year. Furthermore, the solution offers reusability and life-cycle benefits for future projects.

In addition, Sisk's additional infrastructure savings, including a reduction in the size of the site's leased step-down transformer was reduced in capacity from 2MW to 1.5MW, saving an additional £120,000 on set up and leasing costs to date.

By adopting a low-carbon MEP solution, contractors can significantly reduce energy consumption, embodied carbon, and associated costs while promoting sustainable construction practices and promoting environmental responsibility.

If you are interested in a custom-designed heat pump solution for your construction project, then contact Solaris Energy. Our team of experts can help tailor a system to your specific needs.