The Bournemouth International Centre (BIC), managed and operated by BH Live, in partnership with Bournemouth Borough Council, provides the South Coast with premier entertainment, conference, exhibition and event facilities. Since opening in 1984 it is estimated that over 430,000 visitors walk through the doors each year.
The BIC was originally built with three large gas 900 kW pressure jet boilers which heated two large 1,500 litre storage calorifiers. These were located on the top floor and in the basement. The boilers had a two-stage burn and would have to fire up for even the smallest quantity of hot water requirement, such as a hand wash basin. The location of the calorifiers meant that energy had to travel through long lengths of pipework incurring further transmission losses.
The Council, agreed with the BIC's environmental team to review the aging heating and hot water systems to modernise the facilities infrastructure and to enhance the energy performance of the venue in accordance with environmental commitments of both BH Live and the Council. The Council's project manager Bill Bouttell said "The Bournemouth International Centre was not operating as efficiently as it could due to two big calorifiers running off the main heating boilers all year round. One of the first challenges was to determine the usage patterns for hot water requirements so that we could start looking at a solution."
"The peak periods for hot water use tended to be during major events, particularly during the interval of a performance,' says Trevor Harbut, Projects Support Team Manager for BSS Industrial and consultant to the Council. The Council working with the BIC, approached us to try and find a more efficient and cost-effective solution."
The Council asked BSS Industrial to establish a load for the hot water system and then suggest a more efficient solution.
"We spent a lot of time understanding the operation of the building and the challenges that the BIC and the Council faced to reduce energy consumption,' says Trevor. 'We calculated the peak and annual hot water load by surveying the building and understanding the buildings usage and also monitored water meter readings wherever possible. In the end we came up with a worst case loading for the hot water upon which we based our design for the new system."
The solution was to utilise the BIC's non-operational days to build up 'free' energy for the peak-use days, thus maximising benefit. The BSS Projects Team devised a solution which gave the BIC its own independent hot water system utilising four BOSS BXP water heaters of 180 litres each, BOSS Aquasystem pipe work, BOSS gauges and BOSS valves. "We took the water heating from a 70 per cent efficiency system using the commercial boilers to 98 per cent system efficiency," says Trevor. "The first year return for the centre using the BOSS water heaters was a £12,000 saving."
The project was undertaken by the Council with Aquacare Ltd installing all hot water and cold water services. The project was conceived by the BIC's environmental team, proposals, selected and managed by the Project Support Team based at BSS Southampton. Crucially, BSS & the BIC's Environmental team encouraged the Council to put in a provision for future-proofing the BIC by adding isolation valves to facilitate a solar pre-heat for the hot water at a future date.
"Whilst looking at the project both the Council and BH Live were also keen on solar thermal and several options were proposed,' says Bill Bouttell. 'The BSS Industrial solution was the most cost-effective and delivered best value for money in terms of capital outlay to energy return by using their range of Kloben Solar equipment. BSS & Kloben also assisted with accessing Government grant options to gain critical funding for the project,"
BSS Industrial supplied 27 solar thermal panels on the roof of the venues main hall, in nine banks of three collectors. Also installed by Future Heat (specialist installers) were two BOSS Supastor unvented preheat cylinders, BOSS Copperad fan convectors, BOSS Aquasystem pipe work and copper pipe work for the solar installation.
"This final phase has transformed the Bournemouth International Centre's very efficient water heating system into a state-of-the-art system which is both highly efficient and very sustainable," says Trevor. "We have calculated that the solar thermal system is capable of providing 30 per cent of the yearly demand for hot water."
Crucially, the numbers demonstrate that state-of-the-art hot water systems can deliver to reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions and operating costs.
"In addition to the estimated £12,000 savings on energy consumption from the use of the water heaters, we calculate we will reduce carbon emissions by 9708 kilograms per annum with a gas saving of 4591 cubic meters per annum,' says Bill Bouttell. 'BSS Industrial took time to understand our both the Council's and BH Live requirements, offered a comprehensive solution and assisted throughout the entire project ultimately saving money and reducing the BIC's carbon footprint."
Martin Belbin, BH Live Head of Technical Services said: "The solar panels are the first to be installed in a BH Live venue and will result in a reduction of carbon emissions, making significant savings in energy consumption. It is hoped in the future, other BH Live venues and facilities will be able follow suit to harness and utilise solar power which could in turn have a significant impact on BH Live's energy consumption and the environment."
LATEST NEWS
Click here for the News Archive