Case study | V&A Dundee How the V&A docked in Dundee Built at a cost of 80.11m, the V&A Dundee building was initially supposed to emerge from the River Tay itself. After reconsideration of the design, however, this was revised to an onshore, infilled docksite berth although the prow of the roof still protrudes 19.8m over the water, beyond the footprint of the museum. Situated next to the moored RRS Discovery, the V&A Dundee is now one of the citys major attractions, enticing 27,201 visitors during its first week and more than 100,000 since its opening on 15 September 2018. of heating and 500,000kWh of cooling per year. The technologies were selected on the basis of three criteria: compliance with Building Regulations; contribution of Breeam credits; and payback. Open-loop source water heat pumps were considered at the design stage, says Butler, but once it was decided to move the building onto the riverbank it became technically easier, and more cost-effective, to go for GSHPs. To size the equipment correctly, Arup did aprofile analysis of potential imbalanced loads between heating and cooling over the lifetime of the building. Based on this, a performance brief was given to specialist heatpump contractor GI Energy to supply theplant that would satisfy heating and cooling requirements. Gallery climate control The museums two galleries each require independent air conditioning, temperature and humidity control. Both are fitted with recirculation handling units providing heating and cooling, plus desiccant dehumidification and steam humidification. They work on a variable air volume (VAV) basis, Butler says, so we have VAV dampers to control the air; they shut off a bank of diffusers in part-load conditions rather than reduce the flowrate to each, so the air from an active Each gallery has three temperature and humidity sensors; if one drifts out of calibration, an alarm is triggered diffuser is at constant volume, creating good air mixing. This means we can guarantee a fixed amount of air from each diffuser and create the correct mix to give a consistent temperature and humidity throughout the spaces. Carbon dioxide sensors ensure there is enough fresh air for occupants. The museum goes into full recirculation mode at night, thereby saving energy by not having to heat incoming fresh air. The system has built-in redundancy. For instance, each gallery has three temperature and humidity sensors to compare the measured data; if one drifts out of calibration, an alarm is triggered and the No direct sunlight was allowed to enter the galleries but there is extensive daylighting at the edges 38 January 2019 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Jan19 pp36-39 Dundee design museum.indd 38 21/12/2018 15:06