Case Studies

Manchester Velodrome is home to the National Cycling Centre and is the UK host venue for many national and international cycling competitions and events. On 30th September 2019, the site experienced a complete failure of all four boilers servicing the BMX Arena, and with a major exhibition planned to take place at the weekend, we received a call to visit site and provide a solution to what was critical situation.

Monday 30.09.20 – Site visit & survey
A visit to site quickly concluded that the existing boilers could not be put back into service and that they would need to be replaced. With the weekend only 4 days away, there would be no possibility of that work being completed in time for the planned event. The only option would be to supply the heating from a temporary source; the site was surveyed to establish our solution:

• Just short of 1 megawatt of heating required
• What available space existed to position a temporary plantroom?
• What was needed to bypass the existing plant and supply heat to the system?
• Can this be in place for the weekend?

Our proposal was submitted on the Wednesday, and we were pleased to receive the client order the next afternoon; our supplier orders were placed immediately. The heat was now on for us, though not yet for our client!

Friday 04.10.20 – Providing the solution
The day began by working to isolate the existing boilers along with preparations to connect a temporary plantroom which was due to arrive around midday.
The hired unit was selected to match the BMX Arena heat load requirements, and was on the ground by 1PM.
One of the plantroom doors was modified to pass the temporary pipework and cabling etc., and the unit was connected to the systems.
A flue was installed with sufficient height to ensure that combustion gases could be safety exhausted
In all of this activity, one very important aspect was ensuring that sufficient plantroom access was maintained to allow for new boilers to be installed while the temporary solution was in place.

There’s more…
Having delivered a successful, though temporary solution to the problems encountered by our client, there still remained the issue of a permanent solution which required the installation of four new boilers to replace the existing units.
We have been successful in competitive tender for this work which will be programmed to suit our client.