MONTH IN FM
NHS LOTHIAN TO SAVE £644K ON ENERGY A YEAR
Vital Energi have been awarded by NHS Lothian
the project to upgrade and improve the existing
energy centre and infrastructure of St John’s
Hospital in Livingston which will save 2,649
tonnes of carbon and £644k per year.
MARCH 2019 45
FMJ.CO.UK
The scheme will see the existing 30-year old
steam boiler plant upgraded to include a 1.5MW
CHP engine, three 5MW steam boilers and new
chimney flues. Waste heat will also be captured
from the laundry area and used to generate
heating and hot
water around
the hospital to
maximise energy
savings as their
current system is
ine icient. This
innovative system
has been designed
to divert the high
temperature
condensate
return into a new
300kw plate heat
exchanger to
transfer the waste
heat omitted from
the laundry area
and convert it into
low temperature
hot water to be
FUTURE-PROOFED BATHROOMS
Smart bathroom flooring choices can help people
stay independent in their own homes for longer,
explains Esther Bond, Housing Consultant at
Altro.
Home adaptations allow individuals who are
disabled, ageing or vulnerable to continue to live
in their own homes for longer. This does require,
however, homes to be adapted to provide a safe
and comfortable environment for them to live in.
When houses are adapted, you need to not only
consider the needs of the individual now, but in
the future.
Physical and mental health can deteriorate over
time, and to have a familiar environment that
does not have to be changed reduces stress and
confusion a„ er the house modification.
The bathing experience
is an important part of life
and environments should
help people feel safe and
relaxed. Colour is a way
of achieving this, creating
a warm, comforting and
homely environment, even
where the home is adapted
with specialist equipment.
We can recommend colour combinations that are
appropriate for people with dementia and those
with visual impairments.
More accidents happen at home than anywhere
else. That’s why safety should always be an
important consideration when adapting a home.
Slips and trips can easily happen when floors are
wet or there is an uneven surface.
For bathrooms, look for safety flooring that
guarantees to reduce the chance of a slip or trip to
one in a million, for the lifetime of the flooring so
you can rest assured your home adaption will be
safe for years to come.
In practical terms, adaptions that are easy to
clean and maintain is an important consideration.
Quite o„ en carers are in the workforce or are
themselves elderly. Having an environment that
is easy to keep clean makes life easier – and safer
- for everyone. Surfaces that are impervious and
can be washed and even steam cleaned allows the
highest levels of hygiene to be maintained.
Look for bathroom solutions such as a
watertight and integrated floor and wall system
that is easy to clean and is safe with a number of
contaminants such as shampoo, conditioner and
shower gel. Also look for the latest specialist safety
flooring, designed to keep you safe in wetrooms,
bathrooms, toilets, whether you are barefoot or
wearing shoes, so you are safe no matter what
you’re wearing (or not!).
www.altro.co.uk
distributed around the hospital’s heating system.
This will provide significant carbon and financial
savings for the scheme as using the wasted heat
will provide financial savings of £26,249 per
annum.
A new smart SCADA monitoring system will be
installed to monitor, control and optimise the
energy scheme to maximise financial savings,
improve supply resilience and minimise carbon
emissions.
Vital value engineered a solution at the tender
stage when they identified issues with the internal
flues of the boiler house due to their age. This
posed risks of interruption to the steam supply
to the hospital, and therefore Vital have included
replacing these flues with new stainless steel flues
in order to extend the lifespan of the scheme.
The solution has been designed to incorporate
future technologies due to the ability to further
modify the system to accommodate alternative
renewable systems in later years, as the Health
Board desired to have the flexibility to consider
energy systems less reliant on fossil fuels.
Vital will be guaranteeing the savings of the
scheme for 25 years a„ er its scheduled completion
in May 2019.
www.vitalenergi.co.uk sales@vitalenergi.co.uk 01254 296 000
/www.altro.co.uk
/www.vitalenergi.co.uk
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