With footfall in excess of 12 million visitors per year, the 46,450m2 Freshney Place Shopping Centre accounts for more than 57% of Grimsby’s retail provision. As part of an ongoing update programme, Sovereign Air movement were approached by G-Tech to replace or upgrade the existing AHUs which had been operating on the site for more than 25 years.
Freshney Place has been accredited with the ‘Investors in the Environment’ Silver Award, and part of their mission statement is to: ‘Carry out regular maintenance and improvement programmes to ensure we operate an environmentally responsible building’.
Sovereign’s own policy of ensuring required energy standards are met for building ventilation, made the collaboration with G-Tech and Freshney Place a natural choice. Each unit would be a direct replacement for the older systems and include a 100kW gas fired heater and wheel heat recovery system for maximum efficiency. With the old units and ducting stripped out, transport was arranged for delivery of the next generation units in five sections together with a trailer and crane. Sovereign’s regular transport company, Five Star Haulage of Leeds, played a key role in tentatively manoeuvring the units via a ramp onto the shopping centre roof; a challenging operation in itself.
With the units bolted together and all internal wiring and ductwork modifications complete, we passed on to our client to link with their control systems. When fully wired, Sovereign arranged for testing of the gas burner and full commissioning took place.