Category Archives: BLOG

Boilers. They’re something a lot of us take for granted, whether we’re at home, at work, or in a public building. When they’re working, we don’t even give them a second thought. But when they stop working, suddenly they are the most talked about thing in the building. Today we want to ask you, what happens then? It’s easy to say ‘just replace it’, but with commercial boilers that’s a lot easier said than done!

When Your Boiler Breaks Down

If you’re at work and your boiler breaks down, this could first impact your business productivity. Or, if your processes rely on hot water, they will stop, and you’ll lose huge amounts of revenue. And if it’s winter, then your staff are now cold as well as unmotivated. They can’t even wash their hands with warm water, so they start to get irritated pretty quickly. And it’s no surprise – they shouldn’t have to work in an uncomfortable environment. 

Which they won’t. Employee productivity has been shown to drop in cold environments, and if the temperatures drop too low, they may even go home. If your processes rely on hot water, then they may not be able to do any work at all, which only means more lost time and money for our business. With no one to carry out vital tasks in your business and no way to generate income, you need to do something about it, quick!

The Price You Pay

So the boiler is broken, and you have no heat or hot water on the property. What do you do? You call a heating engineer and ask them to get there ASAP – it’s an emergency after all. Depending on the level of cover you have you could be waiting anything from half an hour to 3 or 4 hours. All of that time money is draining away from your business as you have to turn people away because you can’t provide the accommodation or services they need. When the engineer does show up, you have to pay a hefty emergency callout bill, which can be around £135, or more if it’s a weekend.

When the engineer takes a look around, they tell you the boiler is beyond repair, and you need to replace it. At this stage, you’re now paying for a new boiler and the labour to install it, whenever that is able to happen. That in itself could cost £2,000 and up depending on your commercial needs and the installation costs. And you’re still losing money every minute you don’t have a working boiler in the building. That’s thousands of pounds and a lot of lost customers, all due to a broken down boiler.

Servicing Makes All The Difference

So what’s the alternative? Regular servicing and maintenance! Commercial boilers might be powerful and robust, but they are also delicate, and things can get damaged and turn into big problems before you know it. And while the minimum servicing requirement for commercial boilers is once per year (or twice for older boilers), that doesn’t mean you should ignore them in between. Regular maintenance checks can catch small issues while they are still small, make routine repairs and ensure your system is working exactly as it should. 

The best part is, you can be protected against the cost of emergency callouts and boiler services with affordable service cover. You don’t have to worry about one small problem costing you thousands. Who knew there was such a simple solution to such a major problem for UK businesses?

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we are specialists in the maintenance and repair of HVAC systems for commercial properties. Including the emergency repair of many a boiler in our day! Our maintenance services are designed to provide the routine care your boiler needs to stay operating at maximum efficiency and prevent any unexpected breakdowns. If you’d like to know more about how we can help you, just get in touch with the team today.

Did you know that Britain currently has the world’s third-largest boiler market? Even with the rising popularity of heat pumps and alternative heating solutions, there are still over 26 million boilers installed across the country. And among those boilers, any with a power rating of 70 kilowatts are considered ‘commercial’ boilers. Commercial boilers may be slowly phasing out, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the maintenance requirements that come with them. We deal with commercial boilers on a day-to-day basis, so we’re going to share with you some best practices for keeping them in shape, and what warning signs you need to look out for.

What’s The Lifespan Of A Commercial Boiler?

All boilers are slightly different, but if you do the right maintenance and preventative care, your commercial boiler should last you anywhere from 10-15 years. Check with your manufacturer for the exact lifespan of your boiler.

Sadly this often isn’t the case, as it’s common for facilities managers to ignore the boiler when it is working, and only pay attention to it when something is going wrong. By this point, there have likely been smaller issues building up, causing damage that can cut down the lifespan of the boiler. That’s why regular and preventative maintenance, plus regular servicing can significantly increase the boiler lifespan and prevent faults from happening in the first place.

How Often Should A Commercial Boiler Be Serviced?

As a general rule, commercial boilers should be serviced every year, or even twice a year if they are getting old. Because commercial boilers experience much heavier use than household models, they are very prone to wear and tear which can cause all sorts of problems in the long term. Regular servicing helps stay on top of these issues and keep the boiler working smoothly for longer.

On top of that, many commercial insurance policies require a commercial boiler to be serviced every 12 months to maintain valid cover. If you need to make a claim and you haven’t been taking care of your boiler, you could risk missing a payout. All boiler services should be done by a qualified engineer who can provide you with all the documentation you need after each service. This means you can always prove that your boiler has been serviced, and have a reference date for its next check-up.

Warning Signs Of A Faulty Commercial Boiler

Since commercial boilers are such an integral part of your building systems, it’s important to know the warning signs if they need attention. Below are a few examples of warning signs for commercial boilers, so that you know when it’s time to call an engineer.

Higher Fuel Bills: We know that fuel prices have skyrocketed recently, and while they are slowly starting to level out they will be higher for a little while. But if you look at your fuel bill and think it’s extortionately high, it’s worth checking your boiler to make sure it’s working properly. When boilers are working inefficiently they use more fuel, which will increase your fuel bill.

Cold Premises: No one likes working in the cold, especially at this time of year. If your premises are still cold even after the boiler is running, you need to get it checked. Especially if you go around the property and find that all radiators and pipes are warming up to the same temperature at the same time – this is a sure-fire sign that something is wrong with the boiler.

Unusual Noises or Smells: Boilers all make noise when they work, but the gentle humming should not be distracting or overly loud. If you can hear clunking, ticking or whirring sounds coming from your boiler at any time, you need to get an engineer on site as soon as possible. The same goes for odd smells coming from the boiler, as this could be a sign of a leak and potentially incredibly dangerous.

If you don’t know where to start when it comes to your boiler, we’re here to help. At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we specialise in the maintenance and repair of HVAC systems, including boilers of all shapes and sizes. To find out more, or book your boiler services today, just get in touch with the team here.

If you work in the world of hospitality, you know that the customer is the most important thing. Your whole business is built around them, and so it’s your job to keep them safe and happy while they are under your roof. Safe being a pretty important word there! So much so that the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) has identified two key safety issues within the hospitality space that need addressing – electrical faults and fire hazards. Both of these can cause serious injuries or even death, so here are 4 ways you can make sure your hospitality premises are as safe as possible for your customers.

Protect All Sockets With An RCD

Wherever you have a circuit that is supplying power to an outlet where water is present – for example a bathroom – the circuit should be protected by an RCD. RCD stands for Residual Current Device, and provides protection to the wiring and fixed appliance within the room. It does this by monitoring the current of the circuit, so that it can quickly and automatically isolate a circuit when it detects that the electric current is unbalanced. An unbalanced current between the supply and return conductors of any circuit created leakage current, which presents a shock risk. An RCD can prevent that from happening. This significantly reduces the risk of electrocution for anyone working on the electrics or just using the room. RCDs should be fitted in the electrical distribution board and should be tested regularly to make sure they’re still in working order.

Book Regular Inspections And Tests

As a hospitality business, your buildings should each hold a valid EICR certificate to prove safety. It’s generally recommended that you have all fixed wiring tested every 5 years, all writing in pool areas tested every year, and portable appliance tested once a year or more, subject to individual risk assessments. Not only is this good practice, but your EICR (the electrical installation condition report) will give you an insight into the condition of your electrics, helping you identify any remedial work that needs to be done. In other words, it helps you put the safety of your staff and customers first.

Maintain and Upgrade Circuit Charts

For each property you manage you should have a circuitry chart and works record. Every time a professional electrician or electrical engineer carries out any work on your property (no matter how small), they should be providing you with a new circuit chart to reflect the work, along with all of their paperwork. This helps future electricians see any previous work done, makes testing much easier and will save you a lot of time if you need to do any maintenance or solve any problems quickly. This applies to both the front and back of house.

Plan Your Testing In Advance

Electrical testing and maintenance are always best done in advance. This is so that work can be done before any major problems arise, and means you won’t be fighting deadlines. The main reason for all of this is to make sure that your EICR paperwork is up to date before the mandated deadline every 5 years. By spreading your maintenance work you can also spread the cost, making it much easier to keep up with.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we may be the HVAC specialists, but we also need to know about and understand electrics in order to do out jobs. This means we can maintain other areas of your building systems while we work. Including electrics. So if you need a registered electrician to carry out testing or maintenance work, why not give us a call today.

By now you probably know that Bonus Eventus Maintenance is passionate about the environment. At least, we hope you are! We’ve written a lot in the past about the importance of planning your HVAC systems around environmental friendliness, ways to reduce your carbon emissions and how to use the amazing technology we have to start reversing some of the damage that has been done to the planet. Because while HVAC systems of the past could be incredibly harmful, they don’t have to be anymore. In fact, there are several ways you could adjust your building HVAC systems to not only save you money but be kinder to the environment too. And today we’re going to round up our favourite options into one post for you.

Solar Power

It’s a well-established energy source that will never run out, solar power has exploded in popularity over the past few years. You can use passive solar power methods like solar panels to power your HVAC systems, which many people do at the moment. Or you can use direct gain systems, which use the sunlight that passes through windows and converts it to thermal energy which the walls and floor store as heat energy. When the temperature in the room drops, the heat energy radiates out into the space, keeping it warm. There is also the option of storing pipes in the walls of buildings, which are filled with water and warmed by the sun before being pumped around the building. If you think outside of the box, you never need to use energy from the grid to power your HVAC systems again!

Geothermal Energy

Otherwise known as heat pumps. These systems draw heat up from deep underground, where the core of the planet warms streams of hot water and steam. Even just a few feet below the ground the water temperature is around 5-26°C, depending on the area. We use heat pumps to access and harness this geothermal energy, turning it into energy that can be used to heat or cool any building. Heat pumps are generally installed in the ground near the building, and then the liquid inside the pumps absorbs the heat in the ground to heat the building in winter and cool it in the summer. This is currently one of the more popular heating methods for commercial properties, and we are seeing more and more being installed every day.

Ice-Powered Air Conditioning

This is absolutely cutting-edge technology, so it isn’t available to the wider market just yet, but we expect to see ice-powered air conditioning making headlines before long. This is based on a new technology that converts water to ice, which can then be used to run air conditioning systems. The air-con units convert the water to ice using a system of copper coils during the night cycle and stores it. As the temperature of the building rises, the ice cools the hot refrigerant and therefore the building during the day. This cuts the energy used by the system by around 30% and drastically reduces your electricity bills too.

DeVAP

Another new HVAC technology that’s been designed to make HVAC systems more environmentally friendly and cost-effective. DeVAP stands for Desiccant-Enhanced Evaporative air conditioning, and it combines the cooling power of evaporation with the dehumidifying power of liquefied desiccants. That might sound like gibberish, but you come into contact with liquefied desiccants more often than you think – it’s what’s in those little packets you get in shoe boxes, handbags and other items that don’t like moisture. And it turns out that combining liquefied desiccants with evaporation makes an incredibly cost-effective air conditioner! DeVAP is still in the prototype stage, but tests have demonstrated a 90% reduction in energy use, so we expect to see them going mass market fairly soon!

Smart Ceilings

We talked in our last blog about smart buildings being the future, and environmental impact is a big factor in that. This option is less about changing your current HVAC system, and more about making sure it’s being used in the right way to get maximum results and produce minimal emissions. Smart ceilings or ‘digital ceilings’ are essentially ceilings fitted with sensors that can detect motion, occupancy, temperature and even carbon dioxide levels, and then feed all of that information back to the computer that controls your HVAC systems. So no more heating empty offices, and far less fossil fuel used.

So, what do you think about the future of HVAC? Could one of these systems be the solution to your environmental worries? At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we are always happy to work with facilities managers and block managers who want to reduce their carbon footprint while improving the performance of their HVAC systems, and our experts are perfectly placed to help you. For more information, just get in touch with the team today.

Have you ever wondered what a smart building is? Is it the futuristic buildings of sci-fi films, where everything is interconnected and controlled by just a gesture? Or maybe it’s a building that is run by AI, which could take care of all of those little niggling issues without human intervention at all?

While those inventions might seem nice, science hasn’t quite got to that stage yet!  What we do have are smart buildings that can be monitored and controlled from one panel, helping facilities managers keep an eye on their buildings in a much easier way.

What Is A Smart Building?

A smart building is any building that uses automated processes and technology to automatically control the standard building operations. This includes heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, security or other building systems.

It does this by using a variety of sensors, actuators and microchips that are built into the fabric of the building and the building systems. This upgraded infrastructure help building owners and facilities managers monitor their systems more effectively and gives them greater control and performance over the course of each asset’s life. They also reduce energy use, optimise how space in the building is used and help minimise the environmental impact of buildings from day one.

There’s no set standard for what a smart building should look like or how it should function. But the common thread is integration, and how these buildings have technology built into their very infrastructure, connecting everything together.

The Benefits Of Smart Buildings

Smart buildings are capable of all sorts of things, and the development of new technologies will only add to the list in the future. But right now, there are 7 key benefits to smart buildings that all facilities managers should know about.

Automation Opportunities: The more ways you can link a physical space with digital management systems, the more opportunities there will be to automate basic tasks. Things like motion-sensitive lights, floor sensors for occupancy, beacons to gauge workspace utilisation and more are all possible with smart buildings, taking the burden off both facilities managers and IT teams.

Quantifiable Building Insights: All smart tech provides feedback and data. Each data point generated by a smart building gives you an insight into how your building is functioning, how occupants are using it, and when each system sees the most load. Using these data points you can build up a realistic picture of your building’s  use and maintenance needs.

Predictive Maintenance: Through digital twins and similar technology,  buildings and workplaces become manageable assets. This means you have a clearer overview of what the maintenance needs are, and can become more proactive as a result. This approach saves you time and money and using the technology you can see where more proactive maintenance would benefit you.

Better Resource Utilisation: Smart buildings allow facilities managers to take the resources of a building, like space, manpower, and technology, and quantify them within the context of the facility as a whole. This means a better understanding of how people use the facility, and how you can improve things for them.

Reduced Energy Consumption: One of the big benefits of automation is your systems being able to identify and understand when they are needed and when they aren’t, which results in significantly less energy use. Whether that’s motion-sensitive lighting or a sensor-controlled HVAC system that can adjust useable depending on occupancy, smart buildings help you use less energy and help the environment.

Reduced Operational Costs: Investing in the technology and infrastructure needed to support a smart building is often a block for businesses, but the ROI is almost always worth it. By creating a building that can gather data and use it to make intelligent decisions, you can save a small fortune in operational costs year-on-year.

New Workspace Opportunities: In the new age of evolving working styles, change in the workplace is unavoidable. Flexible working and hybrid working are fast in their way to becoming the new norm, and there’s a big demand for systems to help manage these new working styles. This level of oversight is much easier to achieve with a smart network and systems that generate data to support it.

So, are smart buildings the future? In a word, yes! Not only is technology becoming more advanced by the day, the changes mean it’s never been easier to monitor and control your building’s critical systems. As smart buildings expand, the functionality will be made available to residents as well, giving them greater control over their environment and the ability to work more efficiently.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we are passionate about the environment, and about helping facilities managers make the most of technology to improve their buildings. We work with a number of companies already who are looking to implement smart technology into their buildings, and we would love to work with more in the future. If you’re interested and would like to know more, just get in touch with the team today.

In this ultra-modern world, you might be forgiven for thinking that no one really needs to meet anyone in person anymore. Especially in the times of Covid, where meeting in person is actively discouraged. But there is one very good exception, which is when it comes to property maintenance. You probably know by now that we are HVAC maintenance specialists, and we spend a lot of our time assessing and quoting for maintenance and repair work. But if a property manager won’t meet us in person to talk about the quotes and work, then there are a lot of problems that arise – and it’s not just our company. In particular, there are 4 problems that comes up time and time again for maintenance workers.

You’re Too Busy

People are busy, and property managers are no exception. There is so much for you to keep up with that it can be easy to miss something, and sometimes that something is incredibly important. All too often we’ve received replies to quotes or questions that have seemed rushed, and the answers don’t really make a lot of sense. This is usually because property managers are working under a lot of pressure, and the issues we’re presenting to them are quite complex. This can make understanding the issues difficult, and cause a lot of back and forth emailing that just wastes more of your time in the long run. A 10-minute meeting is sometimes all we need to properly explain the issue to you in a way you can understand.

No Communication Issues

This issue goes hand in hand with the last, because a lot of things can go wrong in back-and-forth communications. Many times we have been attempting to explain an issue or situation to a property manager and they have not been able to understand what is wrong, or what needs to be done to fix it. In simple cases this is frustrating for the managers, as they just want to get to the bottom of the problem. But in particularly complex cases this can actually cause so many communication issues that the work doesn’t get done at all. This is problematic as the issue won’t go away, and will likely get worse without attention. Meeting with your contractor means there can be an immediate conversation and any confusion can be cleared up right away, leaving you confident in what needs to be done and what action you need to take.

Stops Delays

Some of the maintenance work we do is remedial, or routine maintenance that can be slightly flexible on scheduling. But in other situations the work has to be done quickly in order to avoid further damage or cost. Email communication isn’t always quick, and it can sometimes take hours, days or sometimes months to come to an agreement on what needs to be done and when. These delays are not only difficult for us, but they can cause a huge amount of problems for you, not to mention cost you a lot of money. Again, a face-to-face conversation can end in a decision right away, which means we are able to get to work quickly and stop any further problems before they start.

Gives You Options

Once we’ve been to your site done a survey, we will usually provide you with a quotation for the works. This can be a sticking point for many property managers, particularly if the first 3 issues have all cropped up along the way. But there is more than one way to skin a cat, and often there will be a few different options available to resolve your issue. Different approaches we can take, different cost profiles and so on. This is the kind of thing we can only really do in conversation, as you can explain your concerns and we can explain your options, allowing you to pick the best course of action for you and get the ball rolling.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance our job is to keep your HVAC systems in proper working order, running efficiently and at as little cost to you as possible, and the best way we can do that is to meet with you and discuss your needs. If you would like to know more about maintaining your HVAC systems and how we work, just get in touch with the team today.

In October last year, the government announced that it was going to offer £5000 to people in England and Wales to replace their gas boilers with heat pumps, as part of their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the UK. Now, we love this idea, because heat pumps are one of the most efficient ways to provide heat there is, and their effectiveness has been proven in the commercial sector time and time again. But if you’ve never heard of a heat pump before, what is it, and how does it all work?

What Is A Heat Pump?

A heat pump is simply another method of heating a property. But instead of using gas or electricity to heat air and water for your property, heat pumps draw thermal energy from natural sources. They are usually reserved for commercial buildings, like offices, restaurants, blocks of flats and shopping centres, since the units needed to run them are quite large and the compressor is quite noisy, so they benefit from being housed in their own plant room. But residential units can be fitted to your home, so it’s worth considering it as an option if you’re looking to upgrade your home heating.

The main sources you can draw energy from with a heat pump are:

• Air source
• Ground source
• Water Source
• Air to Water

Each type works slightly differently, but the outcome is always the same – heat.

How Do They Work?

The basic premise of a heat pump is to absorb any low-grade thermal energy from your chosen source, and transfer that energy to a heating element that can bring it to the desired temperature before dispersing it throughout the heating system of your building. This heating element is confusingly often called ‘coolant’, and it doubles as a pump for the energy absorbed as well as a heating mechanism. The way this works is a bit different for each source – for example, an air-source pump will suck in outdoor air and pass it over a set of tubes containing refrigerant fluid to produce heat. The refrigerant is then pumped through pipes that compress it to your desired temperature before being send to the radiators and hot water cycler in your building.

It’s similar to the idea of a standard gas boiler, but instead of drawing energy from your gas source to heat the water, you are drawing it from a more natural source instead. By doing this you are cutting your carbon emissions considerably as well as your general energy cost, since heat pumps are on average 400% more energy efficient than a boiler.

How Much Do They Cost?

This is the question on everyone’s minds, especially with the recent energy crisis and sharply rising energy prices. Heat pumps can certainly be a much cheaper option long term, especially if you have solar panels fitted on your building, but there is debate whether they are a more cost-effective option in the short term, especially for residential properties. The installation often requires a retrofit or a complete refit of your current heating system, which can be costly and difficult to time in the colder months when you don’t want your building to be without heat for any length of time while it’s being installed. But the government are currently working to make sure that heat pumps cost no more to install and run than a standard boiler, and have set themselves a target of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028 – as part of their commitment to reaching their zero carbon commitment.

Are There Alternatives?

Of course! As with everything, there are a lot of different methods you could choose to heat your commercial or residential property, many of which are being specifically developed to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Alongside heat pumps and gas boilers, some options include:

• District heating – energy giant Vattenfall is currently planning a network of hot water pipes in south-east London as a proof of concept that could benefit up to half a million homes, businesses and public buildings. This option is still a long way from being rolled out nationwide.

• Hydrogen – This substance could flow directly from big gas companies and into your home pipes. The government is currently running trials on hydrogen heating solutions, with a series of pilots due to finish at the end of the decade. However, this is the last carbon neutral option being explored.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance Ltd, we believe that heat pumps are often the best option for providing heat and hot water in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly way. That’s why we offer comprehensive information at our consultations, along with step-by-step installation and guidance on maintenance and future use. If you’d like to know more about heat pumps, just get in touch with our team today.

Wherever there are communal or commercial buildings, there are property managers. With the recent growth of blocks of flats and office blocks being built, there has been a rise in demand for property management services. People that can look after the building, arrange its maintenance, understand all relevant legislation and in general keep everything ticking along in a timely manner. But property management isn’t without its challenges, and as a heating and air conditioning maintenance company we have seen our fair share of them.

Regular Maintenance

One of the main responsibilities of a property manager is to ensure that the fabric of the building is regularly inspected, maintain, and refreshed to the standards set out in their lease agreement. If they do nothing else, they still need to do this. The easiest way to manage this fairly large responsibility is to set up a maintenance schedule, which can help ensure the building meets the current regulations and any problems are picked up right away. This means property managers need to build a network of professional maintenance contacts who can inspect and carry out work on the different areas of their building to a high standard– including heating and ventilation. Some of the issues around maintenance that often plague property managers include:

• Work not being properly
• Poor work leading to residents refusing to pay
• Financial issues
• Missed maintenance issues leading to more expensive repairs

Communication Consistency

This is something we see a lot of issues with, since we work closely with property and block managers. It’s a sad truth that staff turnover is incredibly high among property managers (after all it is a stressful job), which makes it challenging for them to keep up with the maintenance needs of the building, and understand who’s doing what work. At Bonus Eventus Maintenance Ltd we will sometimes work with four or five different property managers over the course of a single year, and in many cases there has not been any real handover done between them. This often means that vital information is missing, property managers don’t know what issues their buildings have, what work has been done and more importantly what work needs to be done in the future. This often results is us having to re-send every single email, quote and piece of paperwork to the new property manager every time there is a switch, which is frustrating for us and the manager. It can also cause issues, as if the property manager doesn’t have the right information they may miss critical repairs or maintenance that could mean their residents don’t have heating or hot water over the cold months.

Service Charges

It’s no surprise that money comes in as one of the bigger challenges for property managers. In particular, ensuring they have budget and permission for maintenance work. A good property manager should always have a good understanding of how the leave for the building they’re managing works, and how it requires any maintenance charges to be raised. Obviously the maintenance charge arrangements need to satisfy any current property management legislation, including the requirement that there must be accounting procedures in place in order to provide leaseholders with final accounts and annual statutory summaries. This is on top of their responsibility to protect any leaseholder funds in a separate client account for management and maintenance, in accordance with the specifics of the lease. All of this can be a complex process, but a necessary one to ensure essential maintenance work can take place.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance, we know that property managers have a lot on their plates, and it’s not always easy to stay on top of it all. Our number one priority is the safety and security of the people living and working in those buildings, which is why we work closely with property managers to create a regular maintenance schedule that works for them. We support them in making handovers simple and easy, and minimise expense by carrying out regular maintenance rather than the odd emergency repair (which is always more expensive. If you would like to know more, just get in touch with the team today.

Did you know that buildings represent 39% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK? And more worryingly, that 28% of that comes from the energy needed to heat, cool and power them. It’s not something you think about often, but if we’re looking to take action on climate change, then reducing the carbon emissions of buildings is a great place to start. And it turns out that world leaders have noticed this too, as they have announced a new scheme called the ‘zero carbon buildings initiative’, designed to help unite leaders in decarbonizing the building sector and repairing some of the climate damage done.

The Zero Carbon Buildings Initiative

The Zero Carbon Buildings Initiative was first launched in 2019 at the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit in New York, with the aim of incentivising leaders across sectors to come together and meet climate goals by decarbonizing the construction industry. The core components of this initiative include securing commitment from:

• National and local leaders to develop and implement policies to drive decarbonization of all new buildings by 2030 and all existing buildings by 2050.
• Financial and industry partners to provide expert input and commit $1 trillion of market action by 2030.

Our own UK government was one of the first to announce their commitment to this initiative, and have also announced their goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Since a large portion of carbon emissions are generated by buildings, this is one of their first focus points.

The importance of this has been brought to light again very recently by retail giant Marks and Spencer, who announced plans to demolish their flagship store in Oxford Street and construct a new replacement structure. This sounds all well and good, until you realise that the demolition and construction process for that project alone would create so much carbon dioxide that 2.4 million trees would need to be planted just to offset it. And that’s just one building!

So it’s no surprise that the first call is for existing buildings to be retrofitted wherever possible with zero carbon solutions, rather than knocked down and a new building erected. This will save a significant amount of carbon by itself, and if new buildings are being designed and constructed in a carbon neutral fashion, suddenly zero carbon buildings become a lot more achievable.

Zero Carbon HVAC

One of the bigger focuses for both existing and new buildings in reducing carbon emissions lies in the HVAC systems. Global warming has resulted in more electricity demand to provide air conditioning and heat in areas that previously didn’t require as much, leading to higher costs for the owners and higher carbon emissions. Even with a decarbonized energy supply, energy efficiency in HVAC systems needs to be a top priority. This includes steps like integrating building management systems, automating building controls and installing energy efficient or renewable solutions for heating, cooling and conditioning the air. If planned properly it is absolutely possible, but it’s one of those things that should be done sooner than later.

Why Act Now?

Put simply, because this is something that can’t be put off. It’s not an optional rule that you can just decide not to follow – it’s something the government will be enforcing and monitoring fairly rigorously. So at some point you will have to review your building and make changes. Zero carbon emissions buildings are relatively simple to build from scratch, but because this initiative applies to all buildings you will have to do some remedial work to bring all of your properties up to code. This is going to cost a lot of money, and it will be easier for you to bear if you were to spread that cost over the 10 years, rather than have to invest a huge amount in one go later on. For reference, the average cost to transform a standard block of flats into a zero carbon building is about £500,000 – half a million pounds.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we are passionate about the environment and reducing the carbon footprint of our own business as well as our clients. We are currently consulting with a number of block and facilities managers on the changes that would need to be made to their HVAC systems to meet this target, and if you’re in a similar position we’d love to help you too. Just get in touch with the team today for a free consultation. And if you want to know more about energy efficient HVAC solutions, keep an eye on the blog, as we’ll be talking more about it in the new year!

As the nights draw in and the weather gets colder, school children are sitting at their desks looking into the now-dark sky, dreaming of Christmas. Playtime is spent huddled inside rather than out on the school fields, and it won’t be long until parents start moaning about lost coats, scarves and gloves. During this time, staff are trying to figure out how to keep classrooms warm without going over budget – something that’s even tougher than normal this year. Luckily, we have some tips to help make your school’s heating more efficient, saving you money along the way.

Keep To Recommended Room Temperatures

We all know how uncomfortable it can be to work in a cold office, and the same goes for children at school. But that doesn’t mean you should crank the heating up to full power, as being too hot can be uncomfortable too! It’s a balancing act, and getting it right will help keep morale up and boost productivity across the board. Believe it or not, there is an ideal temperature. According to the Department for Education and Skills, temperatures in schools should be kept at the following levels:

• Normal teaching environment: 18°C
• Circulation spaces (e.g. corridors): 15°C
• Areas with high activity levels (e.g. sports halls): 15°C
• Areas with low levels of activity: 21°C
• Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools or areas with very young children: 21°C

You will need to bear in mind the surface temperature of your radiators as well, as there have been cases of children being burnt by radiators in school. The surface temperature of your radiators should never go above 43°C.

Consider Timing

Schools are not occupied 24/7, which means that there are times when you don’t need to worry about the temperature. Taking advantage of the timers on your heating system means that you can lower the temperature during those vacant hours, and still make sure that it rises back to those ideal levels before the children arrive in the morning. Simply adjusting the timers on your heating system can save you a huge amount of hassle and money, so we always recommend you start there.

Prevent Interference With Radiators

Schools are big places, and there are a lot of ways staff and children can interfere with the heating and ventilation, even if they don’t mean to. Just take a look at the inside of a traditional radiator next time you walk past, and see how many pencils, pieces of paper, half-chewed gum and other debris have made their way inside. Look in a classroom and see how many things have been piled in front of a radiator by a teacher with limited space to work with. All of that interferes with the heat distribution and will be costing you money. The ideal solution here is to invest in tamper-proof radiators or radiator coverings – but if your budget won’t stretch that far, then ensuring they are cleaned regularly and briefing teachers on not blocking heat sources will also work.

At Bonus Eventus Maintenance we understand how difficult it can be to keep your school heated and ensure no money is wasted in the process. That’s why we offer free site visits and reviews to any and all educational establishments. Our experts will asses your school heating systems and provide free advice and information, including recommendations for thermostat settings, heat zoning and even governmental support options if you’re eligible. If you’d like to know more, or to book your free school survey, just get in touch with the team today.