Project
ELEMENTS OF DIFFICULTY As with any project , on site services co-ordination becomes a challenge especially on large scale projects . The speed at which the installation had to be completed in order to meet the programme requirements meant regular site visits and quality inspections were undertaken to ensure smooth progress of all HVAC related services . The most difficult part of this project was managing the expectation of the client as the Hotel and retail were being built simultaneously . The chiller plant had to be part-operational to service the Hotel and residential apartments as this was completed first . Timeous approval of equipment submittals was imperative to meeting the sectional completion dates of the project which placed a lot of pressure on us as the consulting engineers .
The retail component of the project brought its own complexity as the leasing team was chopping and changing tenant boxes to accommodate an array of different tenant requirements . This required close cost control and timeous design changes in-order for the mall to be completed on time .
PRODUCT SELECTION The equipment specified was , as far as possible , selected for efficiency and quality , while still ensuring the client did not have to spend over their limit to achieve the same end goal . Budget constraints always dictate the type of equipment that is installed on any project . Together with the HVAC contractors , we were able to use some new to the industry technology such as making use of Siemens Intelligent Valves which combines the functionality of a two-way valve as well as a balancing valve into one valve . The balancing of the valve is easier and more accurate as this is programmed rather than manually set with standard balancing valves . We also used P3 ducting to speed up the installation of ducting as well as to reduce the impact of other trades damaging our services which is always the case when using FRK on ducting .
The chiller plant has a total capacity of 12MW of cooling . Cooling requirements were calculated using the Carrier HAP software and BSIMAC energy modelling software to assist with glazing specifications and required shading devices to meet the SANS XA requirements for the development .
Fresh air plays a vital role in any building and is a statutory requirement for compliance to the National Building Regulations . The opportunity to use an energy recovery wheel on the Hotel was taken , which provides the hotel bedrooms with pre-treated fresh air . This allows the in-ceiling fan coil units in the bedrooms to be selected at a lower cooling capacity . This in turn reduces the capital costs for chilled water piping as this can be made smaller and assists with in ceiling services co-ordination .
This is the first billion-rand mixed use development in Umhlanga which is serviced by a central cooling plant similar to that of a district cooling plant . The scale and complexity of the cooling plant makes it unique . RACA
Project name : Oceans Umhlanga
List of professionals :
Owner Developer Architect / Designer Project manager
Consulting engineer
Contractors
HVAC and associated product suppliers
Noel Smith Ashlee Moodley Roland De Groep Ayanda Xintolo
PIC / Oceans Development PIC / Oceans Development Elphic Proome Architects PMSA / Betts Townsend Electrical Mechanical Wet services Civil Main building
Johan Wessels And CKR Consulting Engineers RPPKZN Consulting Engineers and ADX Consulting Engineers Nala Consulting Engineers Sutherland Engineers WBHO HVAC & R Luft Technik ( Retail And Hotel ) and Improvair Environmental Solutions ( Chiller Plant ) Wet services Electrical
Starling Plumbers MG Electrical
Carrier Water Cooled Chillers ( Screw and Centrifugal Type ) ICT Cooling Towers Sunwind Ahus Turbo Fluid - Eagle Pumps Lowara Pumps Rickard Air Terminals Luft Fans Alfa Laval Heat Exchangers
www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I April 2023 41