TROX SHEDS LIGHT ON GSK COMFORT
14/09/2006
Leading air distribution equipment manufacturer TROX (UK) has installed its multi-service chilled beams (MSCBs), with integrated lighting, in refurbished offices at the medicines research campus of Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
TROX supplied ten 12.7m long runs and one 8.4m run of MSCBs containing air conditioning, lighting and PIR sensors. They were made in sections, enabling the company to unload, lift through the atrium and install them in just two days.
Michael Wild of TROX (UK) said: “This was a challenging project as GSK had not used chilled beams before and was concerned with regard to manufacturing, delivery and installation. The company visited TROX’s extensive laboratories in Thetford, Norfolk to look at the options available and gained the reassurance needed to proceed.”
Following the visit, GSK issued its requirement for lighting, which had to be linear to fit the beams. TROX worked closely with lighting supplier Coopers to ensure that the most effective configuration was produced.
TROX also had to overcome a series of installation demands, as Mr Wild explained: “The beams had to be unloaded in a pedestrian quadrangle and carried up three steps into a prestigious reception area, then hoisted up through a restricted atrium (without any damage to the marble floor or surrounding décor) and conveyed to the office. This was all carried out over a weekend to avoid disrupting the business.”
The GSK campus at Stevenage, which incorporates a medicines research centre, cost £675 million and is understood to have been the largest project in the UK after the Channel Tunnel when it was built.
