VRF Air Conditioner Case Study - Crowne Plaza Hotel, London Heathrow

Large hotel refurbishment uses Toshiba VRF system: installed with residents in occupation

This was a multi-million pound fast track refurbishment project carried out with guests in residence. The hotel has spent more than £10 million to date on upgrading a wide range of facilities including its sixteen room conference wing.

The luxurious Crowne Plaza Hotel, Heathrow located adjacent to Heathrow Airport and at the junctions of the M4 and M25.

When it came to refurbishing its air conditioning system, it needed the level of quality that befitted its reputation, an exceptional degree of flexibility in installation and very good value.

cfes specified Toshiba equipment and were awarded the contract.

The installation was carried out in phases where no more than forty of the four hundred plus rooms were affected at any one time. But they had to work both vertically and horizontally in the building at the same time because of the pipe runs. The work also had to be completed to a very tight timetable.

There are over fifty roof-mounted 3 pipe VRF systems serving the hotel, and in excess of 400 indoor units. All the multi-controllers are also roof mounted. They have been weatherproofed and sit on frames. At every phase of the job, old single package cooling units needed to be taken out and the refrigerant reclaimed before the metalwork was sent for scrap. The units came out in the morning and by the afternoon, the bricklayers were filling in the holes.

In just a few months over 300 bedrooms were completely refitted and air conditioning was also installed in Training Rooms, Board Rooms, Seminar Rooms, overflow Lounges, Bars and other public areas. There is very little ceiling space anywhere in the hotel so the indoor units are predominantly chassis units built into concealed wall cabinets. There are also a few four way and two-way cassettes and the occasional hi-wall unit. Individual unit control was required.

Simplified Controls for Hotels

The Toshiba simplified control that was specially designed for hotels some years ago in conjunction with cfes was redesigned for this job and simplified still further to perfectly suit room occupants' requirements and to provide a new look to satisfy the interior designers.

Room Comfort

In the bedrooms a percentage of fresh air is introduced through trickle vents and is pulled through by the positive pressure of the active bathroom extract fans. In the conference area fresh air is introduced mechanically into the return air plenum by a motorised damper in each room.

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