Due to its detrimental impact on the environment, on the 1st January 2015 it became illegal to ‘top-up’ HCFC R22 refrigerant to any air-conditioning or refrigeration system. This meant that any systems continuing to operate with R22 after that date were at risk due the ban in adding refrigerant to the system if required to maintain operation.

Fujitsu Services were one of those effected by the HCFC refrigerant ban and so they decided to take the proactive approach and upgrade their systems.

Fujitsu Services deliver over 500 services from warehousing and repairs through to light engineering, from their 145,000 square foot building in Solihull. Due to the multi- office design layout of the building a new heat recovery system was specified. The new system would need to be capable of supplying and extracting air throughout the entire two-storey building which provides a bright, modern working environment to the Fujitsu Services personnel.

It was particularly important for E2 to find a service provider that would be able to manage all aspects of the R22 replacement project, from the safe disposal of the R22 refrigerant through to the complex design phase which plays a huge part in determining whether the entire system will offer the very best levels of performance and heat efficiency.

The correct heat recovery system was required, one that suited every characteristic of the building but also one that remained in line with regulations and requirements. Through thoughtful planning and careful deployment, the correct amount of fresh air is delivered into the building, whilst both climate control and energy efficiency have both improved significantly.

In total 11 Fujitsu VR-II Heat Recovery systems were installed, along with 27 condensing units and 120 ducted fan coils and 2 split systems. The systems are fully managed via by a BACnet® Gateway and Fujitsu VRF Touch Panel central controller.