MIXIT leads to maximum energy savings for historic refurbishment

The refurbishment of LADA3, a historic office building in the heart of Athens, was planned to “demonstrate how urban renewal can be sustainably achieved without compromising the city’s character or effacing its history.” Grundfos was approached as a supplier of the smart, energy-efficient pumps that would contribute to the energy savings planned for the eco-friendly building.

After seeing the plans, Grundfos engineers introduced the project team to the all-in-one MIXIT solution that could replace the originally planned 3-way valve cooling system. After close collaboration between all parties, MIXIT was installed, creating an even more energy-efficient system with full monitoring capabilities. The building will soon reopen with a ‘Very Good’ BREEAM classification.

The situation

An office building in the heart of Athens was well known to many Greeks as the headquarters of DOL (Lambrakis Press Group), one of the country’s most prominent media organisations and home of renowned newspapers Ta Nea and To Vima. First opened in the 1930s, the building followed the fortunes of its occupants, first through a series of expansions, before downsizing and finally standing empty since 2017.

Property developers ehret+klein Greece acquired the historic building and, in partnership with Parostec, a construction and project management company, embarked on a renovation project to create an eco-friendly workplace that would “demonstrate how urban renewal can be sustainably achieved without compromising the city’s character or effacing its history.”

Guided by ehret+klein Greece’s commitment to lasting quality, innovation, and respect for local heritage, the so-called LADA3 project’s plan was to “design a healthy, enjoyable and sustainable workplace… that focuses on easy-to maintain, low tech solutions that deliver the maximum impact in terms of energy savings and environmental quality.”

The solution

The project team requested from Grundfos a quotation for pumps and circulators for the 9-storey building’s cooling system. Sensing an opportunity, “I grabbed the bull by the horns and asked for application drawings,” says Dimitris Psaltidis, Commercial Building Services (CBS) Sales Engineer, Grundfos Greece, “then concluded definitely that MIXIT units could be proposed.”

Noting that the existing plans called for the installation of 3-way valves, using Grundfos MIXIT instead would take energy savings much further. Grundfos Greece’s CBS team presented the all-in-one mixing loop concept at the offices of the Consulting Engineers, TEKEM S.A., with a full overview of the benefits, advantages and potential savings between a traditional 2- to 3-way system and the added value guaranteed by the unique, plug-and-play MIXIT solution.

MIXIT simplifies commissioning and balancing while making it faster, easier and more efficient as all components are automatically adjusted and balanced to the system demands, saving the investor up to 25% energy. Also, up to 12 traditional mixing loop components including valves, thermometers, heat meters and non return valves are rendered obsolete thanks to MIXIT’s all-in-one integrated concept.

Several meetings followed between the stakeholders (Local & Global Product Managers, Consultant, Project Manager, Grundfos CBS Sales) to re-evaluate the project. Finally convinced of the high reliability, innovative design, energy efficiency and plug-and-play installation, Parostec gave Grundfos the go-ahead for the proposed MIXIT-based solution.

In all, LADA3’s cooling system consists of a TPE3 in-line pump with IE5 motor for the RC primary circuit with 17 MAGNA3 smart circulator pumps for the secondary circuits. These supply the Lindner cooling ceiling, AHUs and the TROX Technik cooling elements. MIXIT units, 17 in total, were used for all positions except the primary circuit TPE pump which had no need for a 3-way valve. 17 MIXIT CONNECT upgrade licences were also issued, enabling BMS communication through the BACnet protocol.

An essential aspect of the project design was enabling heat energy meter capability on each of the nine floors, so that each floor could be sold to different owners upon the completion of the whole investment. The MIXIT Dynamic feature makes this possible, and further saves costs as no external heat energy meters need to be connected per pump or measurement position.

The outcome

The MIXIT-based cooling system was successfully installed and, as part of LADA3’s low tech/high impact environmental design extending from construction to operation, has contributed to a ‘Very Good’ BREEAM Certification for the newly refurbished building.

The MAGNA3 pumps with permanent magnet motors combine outstanding efficiency (EEI <0.18), proven reliability, and easy installation in conjunction with innovative integrated technologies such as AUTOADAPT, FLOWLIMIT and FLOW- ADAPT.

Over a hundred data points from each pump are sent wirelessly to the MIXIT units and in turn to the BMS – a unique solution of seamless communication between pumps and controller from one supplier.