Peter Lee, Manager, Sawbridgeworth Memorial Hall
Leave a Comment“It’s just modern – it brings the village hall into the 21st century in terms of energy management and management of the hall in general.”
“It’s just modern – it brings the village hall into the 21st century in terms of energy management and management of the hall in general.”
Sawbridgeworth Memorial Hall is a large and exceptionally maintained hall that is situated in the county of Hertfordshire, close to the border of Essex. The hall is a registered charity, with all money raised being invested in improving the facilities offered for the benefit of the local community by the 12 dedicated volunteers and caretaker.
A spacious foyer leads into the main hall which has a stage with theatre lighting, a fully licensed bar, as well as a kitchen. There is also a smaller hall which can be hired for the same purposes. These purposes include activities for over 50s, individual trainers/coaches hiring the hall for classes, birthday and children parties as well as keep-fit, line dancing and table tennis to name a few. The fun doesn’t stop there; Tribute nights, a Jazz and Blues club and fundraisers are also on offer at the hall.
Sawbridgeworth Memorial Hall is constantly giving back to its community. One Sunday per month, they host a Sunday lunch club for lonely people who are isolated on their own for whatever reason.
Peter Lee is the Manager at Sawbridgeworth Memorial Hall who, in 2016, decided that the hall required a building energy management system to “save energy, have a better controlled heating system and have a hall that is warm for when people arrive.” He added, “The booking hall management system is really important to us, it’s how we run our business.”
The deciding factor for Mr. Lee when choosing HeatingSave over its competitors was that “there are many hall booking systems out there but HeatingSave was the only one that manages your heating system that cuts your energy bills.”
When asked if Sawbridgeworth Memorial Hall have saved money on their heating and energy bills due to HeatingSave’s building energy management system, Mr. Lee replied, “It has saved us about 25% on our energy costs,” which is very important in the current climate of rising gas prices.
The HeatingSave Helpdesk has always been on-hand to assist Mr. Lee with any queries he has had about the system. “A great service” was how he described the Helpdesk services to the HeatingSave reporter.
When asked what he likes most about the HeatingSave building energy management system, Mr. Lee replied, “The way it manages the building. It’s just modern – it brings the village hall into the 21st century in terms of energy management and management of the hall in general.”
“Yes, I would recommend HeatingSave to every other village hall,” was Mr. Lee’s response when asked whether he would recommend HeatingSave to other companies or businesses.
Summing HeatingSave up in a few words, the Sawbridgeworth Memorial Hall Manager concluded that “HeatingSave is a hi-tech building management system that’s easy to use and has a fantastic after sales service.”
Sawbridgeworth Memorial Hall
The Forebury
Sawbridgeworth
Hertfordshire
CM21 9BD
Website: smht.org.uk
Phone: 07952475839
Email: book.smh@gmail.com
“The big benefit for us is cutting costs. We’re confident we’ve saved a third on our gas bills.”
Situated near Rye, in the High Weald of East Sussex, the gorgeous village of Northiam hosts a population of 2,500. A third of these will attend events in their village hall from time to time, for social gatherings, performances, meetings or exercise classes.
Inspired by a local presentation organised by a county-wide ACRE forum at the end of 2019, chair Keith Whiting approached the hall’s trust committee with the proposal to retrofit HeatingSave to their existing heating systems with a view to improving their heating and energy management, cutting heating costs and reduce their carbon footprint. The decision was unanimously approved, and the Don Hanson Charitable Foundation were kind enough to advance Northiam Village Hall Trust a loan to assist in the cost of installing the HeatingSave Building Energy Management System.
Following a completed install in August 2020, our reporter spoke to Keith and the hall’s treasurer, Bernard Bone, to learn more about their experience.
When asked about their initial thought process and main objectives, Bernard recalled “we wanted a smart room booking system, and we wanted to save on fuel costs — especially during winter, when the heating was running 7 am to 9 pm whether the hall was in use or not.”
Keith added that they “did a bit of research but were content that they were dealing with the professionals when talking to HeatingSave.”
Northiam Village Hall runs with two hot water gas boilers on a pressurised system that was controlled manually using a single time-clock with zone valves and TRVs manually set on each radiator. The booking system at the time was entirely stand-alone, and there was no relationship between hirings and the control of the heating system. Now, when a booking is taken, it is input remotely to the HeatingSave BEMS Controller by the hall’s booking clerk using the HeatingSave program. The Controller manages the building in zones that can be controlled independently through fifteen TRVs and Temperature Sensors connected to the Controller by WiFi. This creates a flexible system that matches the call for heating with the booking system, and with the ability to tailor the temperature to suit the type of booking.
Bernard and Keith like the flexibility of the HeatingSave system for setting different temperatures along with the booking times — “fitness classes differ to a group of people sitting down to a meeting… that facility alone to modify the temperature is incredibly helpful.”
Since installing HeatingSave for booking and heating control, Northiam Village Hall Trust has added the Access Control module to their system. This now unlocks the hall front door via. a code pad, so the hirer can access the building at the appropriate time using a unique PIN synchronised to their booking.
When asked what the committee likes about HeatingSave, Keith mentioned “it gives us an easy-to-use booking system, doing away with paperwork, and it manages the heating and access to the building. This has much improved our security has increased – much better than our previous system!”
Bernard continued, “The big benefit for us is cutting costs. We’re confident we’ve saved a third on our gas bills.”
Both Keith and Bernard have also dealt with the HeatingSave Helpdesk, and remarked that they have always received “first-class service,” expressing they “value that point of contact,” and as such, have already recommended HeatingSave to neighbouring village halls that have visited.
Ending the discussion, Bernard was asked by the reporter if he could sum up HeatingSave: “We like the fact it can be used to control access and ultimately the building’s energy use. The versatility of the system is surprisingly good, I think it’s a clever system. We’ve been pleased it does exactly what it says on the tin, and it has saved us money. We still have some wrinkles to iron out, partly to do with our learning of the Heating Save system, but we are getting there. We’re delighted that we made the investment.”
Northiam Village Hall
Frewen Close
Northiam
Sussex
TN31 6AF
Website: northiamvillagehall.co.uk
Phone: 07881601887
Email: info@northiamvillagehall.co.uk
Set in the picturesque and historic village of Hunsdon in East Hertfordshire, Hunsdon Village Hall is located at the centre of the village and at the heart of the community. Built in the 15’th century and functioning over the years as a private residence and school, the hall now serves the local and surrounding communities as a function venue, meeting place and activity centre.
The main hall is provides a versatile space for a number of activities and includes its own stage. In 2010, a new annex was added to the building, incorporating modern accessible toilets, three storage rooms, a Doctors Consulting room and a second meeting room. The latter now allows dual concurrent use of the hall, when the main hall is in use.
The heating system uses a gas-fired boiler for heating and hot water with panel radiators controlled by Thermostatic Radiator Valves (“TRV’s”).
The Village Hall is used on a regular basis by up to 10 different organizations who hire it for various classes and meetings. It is also a very popular location for private events, so much so, that around 18 months ago, managing all the bookings and heating requirements for all the groups became a very challenging task for the dedicated team of volunteers in charge of running the hall:
• It was increasingly difficult to make sure that the temperature within each area of the building was appropriate for each booking.
• Heating patterns were not optimized depending on occupancy and use, leading to heating left on, energy being wasted and higher bills.
• It created an extra workload and security concerns related to access on site.
This is where the HeatingSave Hall & Energy Management System (HESM) came in – and just at the right time, as Mike Newman, village representative and buildings manager at Hunsdon Village Hall, told the HeatingSave reporter.
“We attended a meeting of local village halls where our colleagues from Sabridgeworth presented their new HeatingSave system. We were very interested and after looking more into it and attending a demo by the HeatingSave consultant, we concluded that it was a “must” for us as well” said Mike.
Asked to explain the Hunsdon Village Hall’s decision to choose the HeatingSave Hall Energy & Security Management (HESM) system over other systems, Mike replied, “We chose HESM because it is a tailor-made system specifically for the requirements of village halls and community centres, such as ourselves. Most importantly, it also has very good and complete room booking software AND a built-in access control system; which is something we had considered installing for a while.”
The HESM system was installed at Hunsdon Village Hall in November 2019 and no major problems were encountered during the hardware or software installation.
Since the building was old with existing restrictions, the HeatingSave system needed to keep wiring to a minimum. For this reason, the system is built around a T3520-Z HeatingSave BEMS (Building Energy Management System) controller with Zig 2.4 GHz Wireless Mesh Network module, accompanied by T3522 wireless room temperature sensors located in each of the 10 separate heating zones and a T3528 wireless outside temperature sensor.
All radiators are controlled by the HeatingSave Wireless TRVs. Wireless repeaters are used to making sure that the wireless mesh network reaches all the corners of the village hall, with all devices reporting back in real-time.
The Hunsdon HeatingSaves system also incorporates a smart card access control reader which has an integral keypad. This provides superior security and traceability.
The HeatingSave Operations Department engineers trained Mike on how to use the system. Describing the quality of the training, Mike said, “The training was very good in terms of helping me understand the basics of using the HeatingSave system. However, since then, I have learned a lot more about it by using it daily and also by keeping in touch with the HeatingSave Helpdesk – and I am still learning more.”
Is Hunsdon Village Hall using HeatingSave at its full potential? In Mike’s own words, “HeatingSave offers such a diverse range of advanced capabilities that I think it’s actually very difficult to reach its full potential. I can say that the more you understand it, the wider the system’s scope becomes.”
“But as long as the people using the various areas find that the temperature is appropriate depending on their specific activity then I believe HeatingSave has achieved its goal”, he added.
When asked by the HeatingSave reporter what he likes most about the system, Mike replied “the ease with which you can set the appropriate temperature for each particular zone, depending on the intended use of that area at any particular time. And of course, the fact that HeatingSave doesn’t just offer you granular heating control, but also enhanced site security made possible by the built-in access control system.”
“With the new access control system within HESM, whenever we rent out the hall to a specific user, they receive a unique code to enter upon entering the premises. In this way, we can make sure that only authorized people can enter the premises, which relieves some of the pressure and responsibility from volunteers running the village hall” Mike added.
The HeatingSave smart card access control system will provide a good, auditable method of controlling who goes where, for the majority of buildings. Its key features include:
Mike also had nothing but praise for the Room Booking System included within the HeatingSave Hall Energy & Security Management (HESM) system. “I strongly believe the Room Booking System is a critical part of HeatingSave and a fantastic offering for village halls. We are not just using it to manage heating for our various areas, but also for booking those areas to specific groups, invoicing, etc. It’s a very useful system that would normally cost a lot more if purchased separately, and we are looking forward to further integrating it with our website as well.”
The room booking part of HESM allows users of halls and buildings to rent out various areas of the building and control booking logistics, quotations, deposits, collection of monies and management of accounts simply by using a Browser and the Internet.
Is the HeatingSave system easy to use? Mike definitely thinks so, but he also acknowledges that “users with a technical background will most likely get used to the software a lot faster than those without, and that’s purely because HeatingSave offers so many advanced features.”
In terms of usability, Mike was also kind enough to share some third-party feedback on HeatingSave: “I have shown the HeatingSave system to someone involved the BMS sector, and they were very amazed with the flexibility, ease of use and versatility it offered, compared to the systems provided by the larger manufacturers.”
Hunsdon Village Hall have used the HeatingSave Helpdesk on several occasions – not necessarily to sort out functionality issues, but rather to help optimize the system – and the experience was “excellent” every time. Mike praised the quality of the service, saying that “the Helpdesk Analysts have been absolutely brilliant on every occasion.”
The HeatingSave Operations department only had to visit Hunsdon Village Hall once following a wireless mesh network connectivity issue, and their service was “prompt and good”. Mike was in fact very impressed with the system’s reliability – “that one connectivity issue was the only problem we’ve ever really had since the system was installed” he said.
Could HeatingSave improve the level of service provided to Hunsdon Village Hall? In Mike’s own words, ”the level of service provided by HeatingSave has been outstanding. The only improvement I can think of is that we’d like to have a software feature that would generate an alert whenever the set point in a certain zone goes under a certain value for a particular booking – it would be very helpful for us.” We thank Mike for the suggestion and assure him that our R & D software engineers will be looking at adding this type of functionality in future releases.
When asked by the HeatingSave reporter whether he would recommend the system to other community centres and village halls, Mike’s answer was an enthusiastic “Oh yes, I definitely would”.
Summing up his experience of HeatingSave, Mike concluded “Overall, HeatingSave is the ideal energy management and access control solution for any small / medium sized facility or organization.”
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Customer Information
Hunsdon Village Hall
45 High Street, Hunsdon, Ware,
Hertfordshire, SG12 8NJ
Phone: 01279 843358
Web: http://www.hunsdonvillagehall.org/
Email: maintenance@hunsdonvillagehall.org
The Coplow Centre was designed to offer users the maximum flexibility with the best possible facilities for everyone. It comprises a spacious entrance hall with toilets and two changing rooms with showers, a large main hall with a raised stage and lighting for theatre and musical productions, a professional standard kitchen, ample storage and a lounge/bar area.
Mr. Simon Keast, Trustee of the Charity and Facilities Manager at The Coplow Centre, started looking for a Building Energy Management System in mid-2014, as a possible solution to mitigate their rising energy costs.
“The Coplow Centre records over 24,000 individual user visits each year. Each group of visitors, whether regular or one-offs, have their own, specific requirements in terms of the ambient temperature, and meeting those requirements can be very expensive” he told the HeatingSave reporter.
The Coplow Centre has an advanced heating system comprising a conventional gas-fired boiler and radiators, as well as a 35 KW ceiling-mounted radiant heater. A roof-mounted 30KW solar PV installation meets all of the Centre’s electricity requirements and exports the excess electricity to the national grid.
While the separate systems listed above have helped the centre reduce its energy bills, they lacked a central management and control solution that would streamline their functionality and make them work together in a concerted manner. This is where HeatingSave comes in.
“We’ve spent close to a year looking for a Building Energy Management System that would perfectly fit our specific requirements. Not until HeatingSave have we been able to find a system that was a perfect fit for the size of our building, could control our rather complex heating setup, and, last but certainly not least, delivered an exceptional value for money” said Simon.
The HeatingSave Building Energy Management System was commissioned in August 2015 and has a few special modifications designed to help The Coplow Centre make the most of their heating system.
First and foremost, the System includes the HeatingSave destratification fans, designed to overcome thermal stratification of the air in buildings with a roof apex of 5 metres or more. The fans work by mixing the air steadily, creating a uniform temperature throughout the space. The fan speed is determined by a mathematical algorithm that compares the temperature at the top of the space with that at floor level. This algorithm is further modified depending upon the outside temperature, as in summer users might want the fans to run on hot days although there might not be a stratified effect. Some simple user-friendly parameters allow the customers to trim the algorithm to suit their particular needs.
HeatingSave’s destratification fans will help the heating/cooling system maintain the same temperature set-point with less effort, resulting in significant energy savings, but also in an instantly noticeable improvement in thermal comfort. Destratification can reduce to between 1°c and 2°c (or less) the temperature differentials from floor to ceiling.
The HeatingSave Building Energy Management (BEMS) system at The Coplow Centre will also control the electricity output from the roof-mounted solar panel installation to minimize costs whenever there’s a surge in the level of electricity demand (for example, when the radiant heater is switched on). Plus, it fully manages the Centre’s air-conditioning units, thus being able to ensure that the desired setpoint temperature is always right, regardless of season and outside temperatures.
Although he is yet to compare yearly bills in order to find out just how much they’re saving, Simon is confident that HeatingSave will be able to drastically cut The Coplow Centre’s energy expenditure.
“Now that the system has been running for a while, fewer radiators are heating during normal working hours in order to achieve and maintain the desired temperatures. The same applies to our air-conditioning units. I am absolutely certain that overall energy usage has gone down since HeatingSave was installed” he said.
The Coplow Centre makes extensive use of occupancy sensors (PIRs) in order to reduce heating in unoccupied zones (variable occupancy is commonplace for community centres and other similar facilities).
Occupancy sensors allow HeatingSave to automatically turn the heating down to a background temperature when nobody is present but automatically turn it up when employees or visitors enter the area. All of this happens automatically without you having to do anything – whilst HeatingSave keeps visitors warm and saves money. Fuel savings for buildings with variable occupancy can be in excess of 20%.
Simon is very happy with the PIR’s current level of efficiency (“they’re very effective”) and believes that they play an important part in helping the centre cut its energy usage.
A multi-functional community facility such as The Coplow Centre has a very challenging set of heating requirements due to the varied nature of the activities taking place within. But the heating diary function within HeatingSave is the perfect solution to meet every customer group’s specific needs.
In Simon’s own words “You can’t have the same level of temperature set for an aerobics or yoga class and a book discussion club, just to give an example. However, HeatingSave’s diary function allows us to cater to our customers’ needs and requirements perfectly, providing the perfect ambiance on every occasion.”
The HeatingSave Building Energy Management System system enables users to use smart heating patterns to better manage heating and cooling equipment that they already have. The intelligent controller at the heart of the system “self learns” the heat-loss profile of any building so that it can switch on the heating later if it’s warm and also switch off earlier if it’s cold, whilst the occupancy algorithm only heats parts of the building when it’s occupied.
Asked what he liked most about HeatingSave, Simon replied: “The level of control over the Centre’s heating, hot water and solar power systems that HeatingSave can deliver. I also love the level of predictability it provides – I can rest assured that the temperature in a specific heating zone will reach the desired value just in time for the activity scheduled to take place in there.”
“I also like that HeatingSave is a reliable system, so I don’t have to worry about it on a daily basis. And obviously, being able to access it all remotely, whether on or off site, is another major plus” he added.
Simon also believes that the system is “very easy to use”.
The Coplow Centre have used the HeatingSave HelpDesk a couple of times and the service was “fine” on every occasion. A few minor technical glitches prompted a few visits from the HeatingSave Operations department engineers to the Centre and Simon described the quality of the service as “very good”.
When asked by the HeatingSave reporter whether he would recommend the system to other village halls, Simon’s answer was a firm and resounding “Yes”.
Summing up his experience of HeatingSave, Simon concluded: “The HeatingSave system is very efficient and easy to operate. And it also clearly saves money!”
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Customer Information
The Coplow Centre
Uppingham Road, Billesdon
Leicestershire
LE79FL
Phone: 0116 259 9377
Email: maintenance@thecoplowcentre.com
Web: http://www.thecoplowcentre.com/
The Village Hall has undergone a major improvement programme over the past few years, with the ultimate goal of significantly reducing energy and operational costs. A HeatingSave Hall Energy & Security Management System (HESM, for short) was installed at the KLVH as part of this project in mid 2014.
Our HeatingSave reporter initially interviewed Dr. Peter Giles, Head of the Projects Group at the Kington Langley Village Hall back in October 2014 – you can find more about the initial experience of HeatingSave here.
Less than a year later, Dr Giles came back to us with a very interesting update, one which further confirms the HeatingSave system’s impressive track record in cutting energy use and saving of fuel bills; as well as its extensive environmental monitoring capabilities.
KLVH was established as a charitable trust in 1963 to provide meeting facilities for villagers, but also rents out its premises to others as a way of generating income. Its main hall is a large flexible space, approximately 20m x 9m, that can accommodate 150 people at tables or 180 in close seating format. It also offers interested parties the option to hire the Committee Room, which is ideal for meetings and smaller presentations.
Kington Langley Village Hall’s Management Committee, through a Project Group, runs a continuous development programme that “centres on work to maintain the fabric of the building, to enhance the facilities and to improve our energy efficiency” said Peter Giles, the Head of the Projects Group. (more…)
Heidi.Field, the council’s Environment Officer said: “Open to residents, businesses, community groups and schools in Huntingdonshire, this event will help publicise what has motivated the people of Huntingdonshire to take environmental action, what has been helpful to make their projects successful and what challenges they have faced and overcome along the way.”
HeatingSave demonstrated their BEMS that can make 30%+ fuel and energy savings. On display was the type of system that has been used by Bedfordshire Police in their police stations to dramatically reduce the amount of gas needed to heat the premises. The system that links to a PC in the headquarters via the Internet, shows graphs of savings made, kilowatt-hours used and CO2 produced.
HeatingSave’s Managing Director showed Heidi Field how easy it was to simply choose the room and hot water temperature you want, and when, and then leave HeatingSave does the rest; from day one giving comfort, energy savings and peace of mind. He pointed out that HeatingSave internal heat-loss algorithm works on most types of gas and oil fired boilers – especially old ones – and now solid fuel too.
Bedfordshire Police use inexpensive occupancy sensors and the heating diary to heat only when stations are occupied meaning there is no wasted fuel when nobody is there. Government approved to save fuel costs by the Carbon Trust, DEFRA and Energy Savings Trust, HeatingSave is a “must” for the public sector as they grapple with hard pressed budgets.
Heidi Field, the council’s Environment Officer said: “Open to residents, businesses, community groups and schools in Huntingdonshire, this event will help publicise what has motivated the people of Huntingdonshire to take environmental action, what has been helpful to make their projects successful and what challenges they have faced and overcome along the way.”
HeatingSave demonstrated their BEMS that can make 30%+ fuel and energy savings. On display was the type of system that has been used by Bedfordshire Police in their police stations to dramatically reduce the amount of gas needed to heat the premises. The system that links to a PC in the headquarters via the Internet, shows graphs of savings made, kilowatt-hours used and CO2 produced.
HeatingSave’s Managing Director showed Heidi Field how easy it was to simply choose the room and hot water temperature you want, and when, and then leave HeatingSave does the rest; from day one giving comfort, energy savings and peace of mind. He pointed out that HeatingSave internal heat-loss algorithm works on most types of gas and oil fired boilers – especially old ones – and now solid fuel too.
Bedfordshire Police use inexpensive occupancy sensors and the heating diary to heat only when stations are occupied meaning there is no wasted fuel when nobody is there. Government approved to save fuel costs by the Carbon Trust, DEFRA and Energy Savings Trust, HeatingSave is a “must” for the public sector as they grapple with hard pressed budgets.