The Percy Gee Building is the university’s social and activity hub and home to the Students Union. The new four-story addition includes a food court, dedicated Informatics Lab, high-tech media centre and a performance studio. A striking new eastern facade connects the existing atria with a new public square, designed as an events space by architect on the project Shepheard Epstein Hunter.

Five ClimaCIAT air handling units (AHUs), installed by Enviroduct Limited, provide high-quality comfort and fresh air for students and staff, with integrated heat recovery systems making use of energy that would otherwise be lost from the building for ambient space heating and hot water production.

The system includes three ClimaCIAT AirAccess 70 units, one ClimaCIAT AirAccess 10 unit and one ClimaCIAT AirTech 150 unit, all from the company’s flagship AHU range, offering exceptionally quiet operation.

Sustainability and environmental performance were key drivers in the overall approach to the project. The building is designed to achieve a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating of “Very Good.” Equipped with high efficiency EC fan motors and the latest heat recovery systems, the CIAT units helped the building achieve the required efficiency levels.

 “We proposed the CIAT solution as the equipment offers an excellent combination of build quality, reliability, environmental performance and competitive price point,” said Peter Bradshaw, director of Enviroduct Limited. “We were able to demonstrate that all requirements, including the challenging environmental targets, were fully met.”

One of the challenges on site was to accommodate the AirAccess 10 unit in a plant room with restricted space. To enable this, CIAT completely disassembled the AHU, enabling components to be transferred into the plant room and then rebuilt in the final position.

 “CIAT managed all of the logistics around this,” said Peter Bradshaw, “with the company’s Matt Hopwood providing excellent support throughout the project.”

In addition to providing air handling for the new extension, the project included ventilation for the new commercial kitchen. This was supplied by the Airtech 150 AHU, which was adapted with top intake and discharge connections to suit the basement location and space constraints.