Attleborough High School installs HeatingSave for extensive heating control
Attleborough High School & Sixth Form Centre is a community secondary school and sixth form located in Attleborough, Norfolk, England. The school became a specialist Mathematics and Computing College in 2008 and currently offers offers GCSEs, NVQs and BTEC First Certificates as programmes of study.
The High School provides high quality teaching areas including ten state of the art ICT suites, large playing fields, a recently renovated gym and hall along with a large modern sports hall which is shared with the local community. Typically, up to around 990 students and 130 members of staff use these facilities on a daily basis.
The High School’s heating system consists of a mixture of hot air blowers and radiators, the latter being powered by 2 gas-fired boilers (which are also used for hot water provision).
Given the extent of the heating system and its particular requirements, back in 2010, the High School’s board decided that urgent action was required in order to mitigate the ever-increasing energy bills, Mr. Ray Lock, the Attleborough High School Site Manager, told the HeatingSave reporter.
After considering several of the options available on the market at the time, the school decided to go for a HeatingSave Small Business Building Energy Management System, which was installed in mid-2011.
Despite not receiving any formal training on using the HeatingSave system, since it was already installed and running when Mr. Lock took over as the Attleborough High School Site Manager, he believes that “since I didn’t receive any training and still got the hang of it quite quickly (with some help from our IT department), HeatingSave is really user friendly”.
When asked what he likes most about HeatingSave, the Attleborough High School Site Manager answered that “I particularly like the fact that it enables me to control the central heating system from a distance. I don’t have to go down to the boiler room anymore, and the temperature settings are far more accurate than they used to be.”
Although he’s quite happy with the extensive level of functionality delivered by the HeatingSave system, Mr. Lock believes that the BEMS is not really used at its full potential. “The central heating system installed at Attleborough High School is a very old one, and it might actually prevent HeatingSave from reaching its full energy-saving potential.”
However, he also acknowledges that “the system has granted us more control over the boilers and did have a positive effect on the fuel bill”.
The HeatingSave energy management system will allow users to save a minimum of 20% on their fuel bills (although typical savings can go higher, sometimes reaching even 30%+, depending on estimated usage), by implementing a series of energy optimization measures designed to tackle energy losses exactly at their core.
One such measure is the diary function,which allows users to save energy by setting up specific heating pattern control so the heating is not on during weekends or holidays unless the building is being used. This particular feature is used extensively by the Attleborough High School Site Manager, who describes it as “very useful”.
Ever since the system was installed, Mr. Lock had to call the HeatingSave help desk a couple of times, in order to sort out a couple of functionality issues, and he believes that “they were always very helpful”. HeatingSave’s Operations Department engineers were also called to the Attleborough High School site on one occasion, and Mr. Lock believes that he “did a wonderful job at sorting out our issues.”
When asked by the HeatingSave reporter whether he would recommend the system to other schools, Mr. Lock promptly answered: “I would certainly mention it to the other schools whose central heating system has a similar configuration to our own. And that’s mainly because it actually helps turn the boilers’ daily management and operation into a desk job.”
Mr. Lock also revealed that they’re considering extending the system to include additional buildings, pending the High School’s transition to Academy status.
As a conclusion, Mr. Lock said that: “ I’ll have to say that the HeatingSave system has become very popular with us, due the level of functionality it provides and the quality of the after sales service.”
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Customer Information
Attleborough High School
9 Norwich Road
Attleborough
Norwich
Norfolk NR17 2AJ
Phone: 01953 452335
Fax: 01953 456817
E-mail: enquiries@attleboroughhigh.org.uk
Web: www.attleboroughhigh.org.uk