The new Gainsborough Bath Spa hotel is now able to leverage the benefits afforded by a comprehensive BMS (building management system) designed and installed by BG Energy Solutions. BG Energy Solutions has ensured that the hotel is able to ensure the comfort of its guests and shine as a beacon of energy efficiency.

The hotel is located on Beau Street less than a minute on foot from the Roman Baths for which the city is known. In fact, it is unique in the UK in that it has the exclusive privilege of having access to these thermal, mineral-rich waters.

The waters flow directly into the plant room and are used by an extensive number of the hotel’s spa facilities, which include the main thermal bath heated at approximately 35°C and two smaller thermal baths heated to around 40°C and 35°C respectively. Importantly, the BMS installed by BG Energy Solutions controls the temperatures of these baths to ensure they remain at a consistent temperature. Also served by the waters are sauna, steam room and ice alcove facilities, along with a thermal water fountain and relaxation terrace.

“We based the BMS on Cylon BACnet building management controllers in the main panels and best-of-breed BACnet FCU fan coil controllers in each of the hotel’s 99 bedrooms, while common areas such as treatment rooms and restaurants feature banks of FCUs,” explains Simon Shaw, senior project engineer at BG Energy Solutions. “The supervisor workstation uses a BACnet open protocol head-end by Delta Controls called enteliWeb, thus delivering a seamless BMS interface. In short, any PC connected to the BMS network will have access to the graphics.”

Delta’s enteliWEB combines the power of enterprise dashboards with easy-to-use facility management tools. Customisable energy management dashboards and powerful energy reports, provide managers with the tools to reduce energy consumption and lower costs, while task-driven alarm management and system dashboards make it easy for operators to quickly visualise and prioritise work, and keep the facility running comfortably and efficiently.

“In lieu of not providing touchscreens on the panels – we provided a touchscreen tablet which can be connected to the hotel’s Wi-Fi and allows access to the BMS from any location,” says Mr Shaw. “This gives a greater advantage when working in areas other than the BMS panel locations.”

Pre-conditioned rooms

Equally innovative is the fact that the BMS is constantly monitoring the bedroom conditions: should the room temperature rise or fall too far away from desired conditions, even in times of un-occupancy, the FCU will be enabled to bring the temperature back in line.

In total, the BMS has individual control for heating and ventilation in each room/suite, boiler plant, the hot water system, ventilation plant, chiller plant, pool/spa water heating and cooling, fan coil units, cold water booster set, and pumping stations. The BMS also monitors the hotel’s lifts and numerous meters, including those for electric, gas and mains water.

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