Botanica - Case Study
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Ditton Park, Riding Ct Rd, Datchet, Botanica SL3 9LL, United Kingdom
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Introduction
Botanica Ditton Park is a 197,534 sq. ft multi-tenanted commercial office space over a total of 3 floors. Constructed in 1998, the building’s north and south areas are triangular in shape and together they form the shape of a ‘W’. The inside of each triangle has a smaller triangle. This allows natural light into the inside of the building. On the northern section this smaller triangle houses the restaurant and cafe area and has a glass covering. The reception area is in the middle of the building where the 2 triangles meet.
About the project
When Clevernet began working with Kennedy Wilson, global real estate investment company on this commercial building there was a limited Energy Management System in place on the BMS, meaning that it is difficult to monitor and manage energy effectively. New tenant spaces had been sub-metered for recharging purposes.
There were two incoming fiscal meters, both of which are Honeywell Elster A1700 types. These meters had the potential to be connected to an energy management system such as Clevernet’s ECCO Dashboard.
Building Stats
Commercial Building
United Kingdom
??? m2
Renovation work left the building with a number of issues.
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Existing Siemens BMS was no longer functioning as communications had been cut.
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Main Boiler and Chiller Plant was operating 24/7
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AHUs supply and extract air unbalanced in some new tenant areas where hanging ceilings had been removed (and the number of extract diffusers have not been increased)
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No Energy Management System in place
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Manual reading of meters – Monthly
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Tenants are billed on a square foot basis and not on what they consume.
Previous renovations to the building included cutting communications between plant controllers and the BMS PC. This rendered much of the large plant and the building’s zones uncontrollable. Some of the control had been reinstated by the install of a Tridium BMS. The removal of the old BMS meant that many of the controllers retained the settings from the time the renovations occurred. It also meant that the implant was not on BMS.
The lighting circuits were LEDs fitted with PIRs and would switch on when someone entered the room, however they were not controllable via the BMS. The set points on the new BMS were inconsistent. Some dead bands were just 2°C which may cause a heating/cooling hysteresis loop and can lead to energy waste. The fire system was not controllable via BMS. Electrical meter readings on the BMS were configured in cumulative view which provides little information on energy consumption.
Wall mounted temperature sensors with set point adjustment were already in place but were not fit for purpose. The FCU return air was used to control the temperatures in the zone. This can be inaccurate as the FCU is high in the room meaning the temperature in this location is higher due to the buoyancy of hot air.
Clevernet observed that a number of vacant tenant spaces were being heated as the ability to control certain areas of the building effectively had been removed as mentioned above.
2 x EV chargers are installed with more to come. These were not sub-metered but should be and any electricity supplied for transport should be removed from the building usage as it will affect the building energy rating. Car charging in the future could outstrip the building load.
There were 4 diesel generators on site and a 28,000 litre diesel tank. This gives the site 48 hours full load capacity in the event of a blackout.
Project Management
The first step towards building automation was the installation of a secure gateway in the building which connected the building to the internet and give it brains, connecting to Clevernet’s sustainability dashboard ECCO.
Using this data Clevernet now had the ability to write back to the BMS to control the building with the following control strategies;
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Optimal start/stop
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Weather compensation
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Water Temperature control
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Space Temperature control
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Automated Free Cooling
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Boiler control
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Chiller control
The installation of the gateway will fundamentally change the building from being manually controlled to a building that is dynamically reacting to the environment and occupancy whilst respecting comfort at all times.
Clevernet worked with the M&E team to understand the current challenges around the fragility of the hardware and put in place a mitigation plan for same.
Clevernet is the only company to offer a complete sustainability solution known as ECCO, ECCO seamlessly blends cutting-edge software and wireless sensor technology with expert consultancy. This unique offering plays a crucial role in supporting owners and operators of commercial buildings across the UK and Ireland in their pursuit of Net Zero goals. Clevernet's results oriented approach achieves a delicate balance between energy savings, greenhouse gas reductions, and the maintenance of optimal air quality and occupant comfort.
ECOO is designed to give you real-time measurement & verification data within 24 hours of installation. We extract critical data from the utility meters, BMS and other sensors in the building and;
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present this information in a user friendly dashboard for our clients to review ;
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utilise this data to predict the energy demands of the building and make changes to improve the performance of the HVAC system.
We capture critical data in the building by using IoT devices such as our air quality sensors
ECCO allows you to:
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Set and track carbon targets for the building;
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Review year on year process against targets;
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View 15-minute data across all available meters and submeters;
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Review your base line and drive efficiencies both when the building is in use and not in use;
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Measure effectiveness of CLEVERNET and 3rd Party strategies;
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Measure against Heating Degree Days and Cooling Degree Days;
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See Carbon spend of building;
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Measure your Energy Usage
Results
Electricity & Gas Savings
£???
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Electricity usage savings
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1398,663 kWh
Carbon savings
182 mt
Initial EUI: