Great news for HVAC Designers, there's now an addendum to table 35 of Part L (Non-Domestic Building Services Compliance Guide 2013) which now affords an additional 0.3 SFP to the AHU (Air Handling Unit) to enable greater flexibility in the choice of energy efficient space conditioning solutions.

It is all ready quite a known fact that Chilled Beam Technology is amongst if not the most energy efficient solutions currently on the market (amongst many other plus points, such as low maintenance, long life expectancy and the optimum in room occupancy thermal comfort).

Although there have been some barriers to market such as the limit on size (specific fan power 'SFP') of AHU being used to supply chilled beams as terminal units that have no fans (no moving parts / less maintenance/longer life expectancy).

Thanks to positive and ongoing discussions with DCLG ,those in charge of the Part L (Non Domestic) Building Services Compliance Guide, it's now recognised in the form of an addendum to table 35 of Part L (Non Domestic Building Services Compliance Guide 2013) that Active Chilled Beams are allowed an additional 0.3 SFP allowance to the AHU for such a system that does not utilise secondary fans that consolingly draw energy in the form of W/l/s of air volume (SFP), thus now allowing a greater SFP on the AHU to yield a lower total system SFP (as no secondary fans).

Please visit the FETA website or our Technical Download section for a copy of a Technical Fact Sheet that explains in more and also gives a worked example for clarity - also visit Part L Compliance Guide 'On-Line Version' for the latest addendum.