7 Large Private Dwellings, London

What’s the project?

The project is 7 large private dwellings in South London which were to be stripped back to basics with new full mechanical and electrical installations.

Each plot is served by boosted cold water and hot water cylinders. They are served by individual air source heat pumps splitting into two circuits, one serving the hot water cylinder primary and one serving the heating circuit which comprises of underfloor heating.

How long did it take to design the project in h2x?

All 7 plots were able to be completed, both heating and domestic water, within 1.5 working days. This included the h2x set up, input of information, export of PDF plans for input to CAD and pressure drop calculations for all pumps.

How long would it have taken to use traditional methods?

Using traditional methods I’d expect the design would have taken up to 5 working days considering pressure drop calculations for 7 booster sets and 14 heating circuits would have needed to have been completed by spreadsheets and every pipe would have been sized by hand, in addition to marking up drawings to be given to CAD.

Did h2x increase the quality of design?

The design of the properties changed a number of times during the design period. h2x enabled us to make the changes quickly and have confidence that pump duties and pipe sizes would update automatically without the need for laborious hand calculations.

What do you like about using h2x?

The speed of h2x is the biggest advantage over traditional methods. I saved myself at least 3.5 working days in the initial design period, and then probably another 2 days given the design changes. It also reduces the opportunity for human error when calculating pump pressure losses which is something that has been very time consuming in the past.

The fact that calculations and pdf mark ups are produced at the same time is also very beneficial. In some instances we’ve been able to send the output direct from h2x to clients for approval before we commit to final drawings which has allowed us to save considerable time.

We’ve also used h2x to advise our Contractor clients on estimated pipework lengths so that they can make their tenders more accurate which they’ve been very grateful for.