Installation of ASHP & Solar PV in line with council’s Carbon Reduction agenda.
The New Art Gallery (NAG) in Walsall is a modern, contemporary art gallery in the West Midlands. It was completed in 2000, thanks to £21 million of public funding, including a National Lottery fund and additional money from the European Regional Development Fund and City Challenge.
It replaced the town’s old gallery and arts centre, which was closed by the council around a decade previous. The building has won several architectural awards and was shortlisted for the Stirling Architecture Prize.
Funding was achieved through the Salix Decarbonisation grant, which had been secured for the sum £661,730 with match funding of £82,583, giving a total of £744,313. This must have been expended by March 2025. The works were to be completed within 3 months. All further budget was from the Corporate Capital Funding Programme.We were required to ensure our cost submission was in line with the client’s budget as it was largely made up by external funding.
We engaged with our supply chain early, allowing our M&E contractor to order an ASHP in time to comply with the programme milestones.
Works
Seddon were directly awarded the contract under the Pagabo National Framework for Decarbonisation Solutions 2024-2028, and asked to undertake works to decarbonise the building.
This included:
This included:
• Strip out and removal of the existing gas boilers
• Replacement of the inverted roof with new warm roof deck on the 4th Floor (removing weighted balustrade to provide a 20-year insurance back warranty)
• Installation of new handrail system to the roof and bigfoot system for ASHPs
• New ASHP/Water to Water Heat Pumps
• Associated fire-stopping works
• MEP and fabric improvement works
• Installation of 20x Solar Panels to level one roof.
• Improvements to single glazing along with the installation of flow restrictors to taps/shower heads
The gallery has a Costa Coffee contained within the building. Both had to remain operational throughout the project, so the works were to be completed in a live setting. The gallery is also located in the centre of Walsall, in a busy area, and with limited parking and access. This all had to be considered.
The existing heat emitters were all to remain but the whole of the existing heating system was to be flushed, chemically cleaned and treated on completion of the works.
When reviewing the design information, the proposed location for the PV was sub-optimal due to shading from other buildings. We suggested alternative locations for the client to review.
The overall design information was also poor, so we worked with the client and supply chain to fill in any gaps and issues, preventing delays and finalising cost as soon as possible.
Crane lifts required to get the new heat pumps into place16The main works was the complete replacement of the gas fired heating system with a new heat pump-based replacement. The air source heat pump was to be externally mounted on the roof and a water-to-water heat pump mounted internally in the existing boiler room, to provide a flow temperature of up to 78°C.
Due to the gallery being open for business when removing existing boilers to replace with new, we needed to keep the temperature in the building at a minimum level to prevent damage to high value art work.
We supplied and installed temporary boilers to the basement of the gallery to allow it to operate normally. Installation works were scheduled during evenings and weekends to avoid disruption to gallery operations and to maintain business continuity for the gallery and on-site Costa Coffee. The boilers were then kept as back up for the gallery.
The original boilers fed low temperature hot water (LTHW) at 82°C flow and 71°C return temperatures to air handling units, fan coil units, radiators and under floor heating.
Existing pipework therefore had to be amended, as they operate as much lower temperatures, to enable heat pumps to be connected to the existing heating systems.