Did they really want radiators — even designer radiators - on show to the world?
In addition, with each square foot worth around £6,000 per annum, every square foot lost to a radiator had a value a hundred times that of the heater. Trench heaters were considered, but these would involve significant re-engineering of the floor to accommodate their depth. Getting pipework to any heater was also a cause for concern, given the huge amount of data and computer cabling housed in the cassette floor. A review was ordered.
Stephen Clarke, from SC Consulting Engineers is one of the most respected firms on the island of Ireland and operates on both sides of the border from their head offices in Belfast.
Given the brief to find a suitable low-profile heater, preferably electric, Stephen flew to Frankfurt to the ISH show, Europe's largest and most prestigious plumbing and heating show. Having traipsed around the show for nearly 2 days, he had found nothing of any interest, when he sat, worn out on the Daiken Heat Pump stand as their guest to take in a late afternoon well-deserved beer.
Sat opposite at the same high table was a similarly tired and weary traveller whom too had been pacing the vast halls in search of inspiration.
Recognising a British accent, the two got chatting. Stephen described his mission, and the idea he was fruitlessly searching for.
“Something like this?”
replied his new companion as he pulled a product out of his carry case and plonked it on the table.
Nearly spitting his beer out Stephen picked up the low profile heater, as his opposite introduced himself as Martin Wadsworth, MD of DiscreteHeat in Manchester; manufacturers of the ThermaSkirt skirting board heating system. Martin further went on to explain and show images on his phone of their 'threshold' version, designed to floor mount right up to floor-to-ceiling windows and doors. Eureka!
From that unbelievably fluke meeting, the electric version of ThermaSkirt was speedily presented by SC consulting to PWC and the contractors, which was quickly approved and specified.
Fast-forward 6 months, and 1,200m of ThermaSkirt electric in a window-matching aluminium grey finish is being installed in Belfast's' most prestigious office development — over 200,000 square feet of Prime office space right in the heart of Belfast's' buzzing business district.
Stephen Clarke;
“I simply could not believe it when Martin pulled out the exact product I was looking for. I genuinely thought it was a hoax somehow, and it took me 5 minutes before I began to believe it wasn't a set-up.”
“Having reviewed the technical data, the case studies and spoke to a number of clients, it was clear this was the perfect solution for PWC and Merchant Square.”
Since specifying ThermaSkirt on Merchant Square, SC Consulting have gone on to design in ThermaSkirt on 4 more major projects in NI & the RoI. These include residential, healthcare and assisted living as well as commercial spaces.
“Space is always an issue and underfloor can cause overheating, so I was glad I stopped for that beer now!”
