Projects
1
• A reverse vending machine (RVM) which accepts
recyclable materials in exchange for credits or tokens
from the machine to be utilised at pre-arranged venues
for discounts on goods. The RVM accepts only certain
products such as cans, bottles and cartons. The initiative
encourages recycling and rewards users of the precinct
for doing the right thing.
RACA Journal
RACA Journal
1. A tertiary chilled water pump supplying the building.
2. Fan coil unit tenant installation with FES to allow wireless
connection to the BMS.
Following on from an emphasis on a ‘smart precinct’, smart
technology elements have been incorporated into the
building, resulting in a 5-Star Green Star Office v1.1 rating. This
is a speculative building that needed to adhere to very strict
common area ratios and project costings, and the building was
designed to be as cost-effective as possible.
The development has taken sustainability beyond its
boundaries and incorporated green living principles into
the surrounding community. The precinct offers numerous
incentives for sustainable living, which include:
• A car-pooling scheme: to save on travelling costs, the
Sandton Gate app will give all users of the precinct the
opportunity to either get a lift from or give a lift to a
fellow precinct occupant, with the option of sharing
travelling costs between passengers.
• Bus shelters with solar powered charging facilities, offering
users free charging for their devices while on the move.
2
HVAC AND TELEMETRY SYSTEMS
One of the systems that the team was extremely proud
to have been a part of is the innovative HVAC system. The
system offers individual control via variable air volume
diffusers that can be accessed via an app on a tablet or a
smart phone.
The building is conditioned by a four-pipe chilled water
thermal storage system. The phase-change material thermal
storage system reduces the building’s overall electrical
consumption by more than 25% when compared to an already
efficient chilled water installation, resulting in an average
monthly electricity saving of R6.40 per square metre.
The bleedingEdge Building Telemetry System
was developed as a replacement to legacy Building
Management Systems using a secure dedicated Wi-Fi IP
network. Users can control and monitor the air conditioning
system, lifts, generators, UPS installation, extractor fans,
basement smoke extraction, sump pumps as well as the fire
and security systems.
The system continually interrogates the operating
conditions and not only report faults but also provides alerts
if equipment does not operate within its design parameters.
The system monitors and archives all the building’s data
and compiles all the readings from the electrical and water
consumption meters, displaying live data from the building,
and compares the building’s performance to the same
building without any of its energy saving enhancements.
The bleedingEdge Field Equipment Station (Wi-Fi
enabled protocol converter) converts the information from
any BACnet or Modbus enabled devices that can then be
communicated to the automation server on site, or to
the bleedingEdge cloud servers, using open standardised
protocols and services.
The system further monitors and archives all the
building’s data and can compile all the readings from the
electrical and water consumption meters to enable remote
billing. Numerous third-party systems like switching of
lights, access control via licence plate or facial recognition
can further be incorporated onto the platform in future.
The system has the functionality to display live data from
the building services that can be displayed on any Smart-
TV or monitor.
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RACA Journal I September 2020
www.hvacronline.co.za