Overview
For my final year project in the BEng Building Services Engineering programme at DIT, I designed the complete HVAC systems for the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork. This laboratory building presented numerous design challenges due to its specialised research facilities and innovative ground-source heating and cooling system.
Runner-Up, President's Prize: CIBSE Undergraduate Award 2013
This project was recognised for excellent understanding of building services engineering, originality, and high-quality visual presentation. The award is open to all CIBSE student members in their final year of BSc, BEng, and MEng study.
Project Summary Poster
The poster below summarises the building, its specialised areas, design conditions, and mechanical systems. It includes photographs of the building exterior and floor plans showing the ductwork layouts.
The Building
The Environmental Research Institute is located on Lee Road in Cork, adjacent to the River Lee and situated above an underground aquifer. The institute's mission is to support environmental research and education at UCC, with research spanning sustainable energy, environmental chemistry, biodiversity, ecotoxicology, and marine and freshwater studies.
I chose this building specifically because it contained numerous specialist areas that presented significant design challenges:
- Laboratories: Requiring precise temperature and humidity control with high air change rates
- Clean rooms: Demanding stringent filtration and pressure cascade control
- Aquatic Tank Holding Facility: Specialised cooling and ventilation for marine research
- Controlled Temperature Rooms: Maintaining tight temperature tolerances for experiments
- Seminar Room: Variable occupancy requiring flexible ventilation
External Design Conditions
Cork's climate required careful consideration of both standard and extreme weather conditions:
- Winter (standard): -3.1°C dry bulb, 2.95 g/kg moisture
- Summer (standard): 23°C dry bulb, 9.6 g/kg moisture
- Winter (extreme): -9°C dry bulb, 1.7 g/kg moisture
- Summer (extreme): 28.7°C dry bulb, 10 g/kg moisture
Air Systems
The building required a variety of air handling strategies to serve its diverse spaces:
- VAV with reheat: Variable air volume systems with terminal reheat for laboratories requiring precise temperature control whilst minimising energy use during partial load conditions
- VAV: Variable air volume without reheat for general areas where temperature tolerance was wider
- CAV with reheat: Constant air volume with reheat for spaces requiring fixed air change rates such as fume cupboard areas
- CAV: Constant air volume for areas with consistent loads
- Natural ventilation: Where appropriate for non-conditioned spaces
Heating and Cooling Systems
The most innovative aspect of the building's design was its use of the underground aquifer beneath the site for heating and cooling. The aquifer maintains relatively stable temperatures throughout the year (approximately 8°C in winter and 12°C in summer), providing an excellent source for a ground-source heat pump system.
Both the low temperature hot water (LTHW) and chilled water (CHW) systems were served by this customised heat pump system, enabling:
- Efficient heating in winter by extracting heat from the aquifer
- Efficient cooling in summer by rejecting heat to the aquifer
- Significantly reduced carbon emissions compared to conventional boiler and chiller systems
- Lower operating costs due to high coefficient of performance
Additional Services
Beyond the primary HVAC systems, the design incorporated numerous specialist services required for laboratory operation:
- Natural gas distribution for Bunsen burners and equipment
- Compressed air systems for laboratory instruments
- Acetylene supply for specialist research equipment
- Power distribution including emergency backup
- Fire alarm detection and suppression systems
Project Deliverables
The final year project comprised several major deliverables:
- Building load optimisation and thermal analysis
- System selection and justification for each building zone
- Detailed design calculations for all mechanical systems
- Final design drawings showing equipment layouts and routing
- Comprehensive design report documenting all decisions
- Formal presentations and project defence before internal and external examiners
Reflections
This project was a comprehensive exercise in applying four years of building services engineering education to a real, complex building. The Environmental Research Institute presented exactly the kind of challenges I was hoping for: specialist spaces with strict environmental requirements, innovative low-carbon technologies, and the need to integrate multiple systems into a cohesive design.
The ground-source heat pump system was particularly interesting to design, as it required understanding the thermal properties of the aquifer and optimising the heat pump operation for both heating and cooling modes. This experience with renewable energy systems would prove valuable in my later career.