26 February 2025
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The compact units are installed in the utility cupboard of each apartment
Indoor air quality and ventilation specialist Nuaire is supplying hybrid cooling solutions at the new Berkeley Oval Village mixed use development in central London.
A total of 103 MRXBOX hybrid cooling systems with Nuaire ducting are being installed into one-bedroom apartments in an area called the Zone. The compact units are housed within each apartment’s utility cupboards.
The hybrid system, which is a cooling extension for the MRXBOX mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) range, combines the heat-exchanger coolth recovery of an MVHR system with the cooling effect provided by a DX coil. A wall-mounted room temperature sensor senses indoor temperatures and activates the cooling module automatically when necessary.
The hybrid cooling system has been designed to address the issue of overheating in problem areas of developments, where specific apartments or groups of apartments cannot be naturally ventilated and where site-wide cooling technologies are not an option. The system is said to significantly lower the temperature of the fresh air supply for occupant comfort, and enables compliance with Building Regulations Part O, which addresses overheating mitigation requirements in new build properties.
Whilst passive ventilation solutions, such as opening windows, are prioritised under Approved Document O, there are instances when this is neither desirable, nor practical; this could be due to safety considerations, external noise and/or pollution. Located in the heart of London, Oval Village has these issues to contend with, plus higher temperatures than in other parts of the UK as a result of the Urban Heat Island effect.
The system was selected by the consultant on the Oval Village development following an assessment of the acoustics, air quality and overheating. For apartments that would not meet the noise criteria, natural ventilation was not an option and an alternative solution had to be found in the form of mechanical ventilation.
Cooling technologies for individual apartments impacted by overheating where looked at. While split systems with fan coils are a tried and tested option, they weren’t universally suited to all apartments in the development. With a number of the apartments at Oval Village allocated as affordable housing, the cost of cooling for the home owner was an important consideration.
Nuaire says the hybrid solution was welcomed by the consultant as a means of achieving compliance with Part O without the energy cost of a full cooling system that occupants have to pay for. It adds that as well as creating a simple solution to overheating in summer months, the units provide a high standard of indoor air quality year round via high-efficiency MVHR.
