The Devon Partnership NHS Trust says it is cutting its energy consumption and carbon footprint via the upgrading the heating and cooling system at Langdon Hospital in Dawlish following the installation there of Mitsubishi Electric e-Series heat pump units.
The site serves the Dewnans Centre – a medium secure inpatient mental healthcare facility near the seaside town of Dawlish. While for service-users, living on a site located less than a mile from the sea can be beneficial, at the Dewnans Centre the Trust needed a solution that could cope with saline in the atmosphere, and would also help the centre improve energy efficiency.
Mitsubishi Electric provided Langdon Hospital with three e-Series EAHV1500 YCL modular heat pump units for underfloor heating in the winter months, and two e-Series EACV1800 YCL modular chillers for underfloor cooling in the summer months. The units were connected using the e-Series internal header, which eliminates the need for separate piping connections, valves, and commissioning, and reduces cost and installation time.
Collette Germon, Sustainability and Energy manager for the Trust, said: “Our old system was not suited to building a greener future. The energy consumption and costs for the old chillers were increasing significantly year on year. We’ve already seen an overall reduction in energy consumption with our new sustainable system, and are very hopeful that in addition to reducing carbon emissions, we will also be reducing our running costs,”
Another important consideration for Langdon Hospital when choosing which manufacturer to work with was the safety of service-users and contractor staff, given the sensitivities of a medium security facility. Rod Butler, Estates officer at Langdon Hospital, said: “Mitsubishi Electric completely adhered to the strict site-specific rules. They paid special attention both to how they interacted with service-users, and to restricted working activities, and managed the movement of both plant and equipment when necessary.” Mitsubishi Electric conducted an initial front-end engineering design to assess the existing M&E infrastructure and its requirements.
Paul Lewis, Turnkey Contracts manager at Mitsubishi Electric, said: “I had the chance to visit the site with Rod Butler, and together we looked at the different options available to find the most suitable and sustainable solution. This was an end-to-end project for us, encompassing everything including design, equipment selection, and replacement of mechanical and electrical items associated with that plant.”