Dartford Civic Centre

As part of a major refurbishment of its Civic Centre, Dartford Borough Council has replaced its ageing boiler plant with energy-saving Remeha Gas 220 Ace condensing boilers.

Dartford Civic Centre, which has housed the Council chambers for the last 32 years, was previously relying on inefficient 40-year-old cast-iron sectional boilers for its heating. The Council was keen to retrofit more modern, energy-efficient heating equipment within its wider programme to improve working conditions at the Civic Centre.

Heating is typically one of the largest users of energy in a building and central to generating a productive working environment. Ensuring that the system operates reliably and efficiently helps keep running costs low and occupant comfort levels high.

At Dartford Civic Centre, access to the boilers is restricted due to the rooftop location of the plantroom. Achieving continuous heating provision even during routine servicing and maintenance work was therefore a key requirement for the Council. To future-proof the system and improve heating efficiency and reliability, Dartford Borough Council specified installing four condensing boilers with a cascade system.

Sharing the load across multiple condensing boilers rather than selecting one larger unit allows the boilers to operate at part load where they are most efficient, reducing operating costs. This arrangement also makes full use of the boilers’ modulating feature, enabling them to match the building’s heat demand more accurately for further savings. Importantly for the Council, the cascade arrangement also avoids any interruption to the heating service due to the in-built redundancy of the design.

Heating contractors BSW Heating Limited replaced the existing two cast-iron sectional boilers, together with the summer boiler, with four Remeha Gas 220 Ace condensing boilers on a cascade system. The Gas 220 Ace is Remeha’s latest boiler, delivering higher than average gross efficiencies of up to 98% that maximise energy-saving operation, and ultra-low Class 6 NOx emissions to minimise greenhouse gas emissions.

The Gas 220 Ace has been designed specifically in response to customer requirements for a cost-effective solution to increasingly restricted plantroom space and access limitations.

BSW Project Manager Brad Davies commented: “The Remeha boilers are lightweight and are delivered on wheels, so they were easy to move and crane up to the rooftop.

They are compact too, as Brad noted. “The old boilers were huge and occupied the entire plantroom. Now, thanks to the small footprint of the Remeha boilers, there is plenty of access which will simplify future maintenance and service work. The extra room they have created is great!”

The Gas 220 Ace boilers have been integrated into a new Building Management System at the Civic Centre to achieve and maintain energy-efficient, well-controlled heating.

With the new Remeha boilers now fully operational, they are already raising comfort levels within the building – even during the recent cold snap.

within the building – even during the recent cold snap. “They are extremely quiet too,” added Brad, “unlike the old boilers that used to make the whole building vibrate!”

Paul Koster, Maintenance Manager at Dartford Borough Council is happy with the result. “The difference in the size and functionality of the boilers is amazing. We now have total control over the heating system and hope to see a significant savings in running costs.”