Lloyd’s of London – Cooling Tower Upgrade in Grade 1 Listed Building | Vistech
Upgrading Cooling Towers in a Grade 1 Listed Building
Lloyd's of London needed to upgrade the cooling towers in their iconic Grade 1 listed building designed by Richard Rogers. The towers' unique round design meant replacement was impossible, so Vistech re-engineered the internals to nearly double heat rejection performance while preserving the building's award-winning architecture.
The Challenge
Completed in 1986, the Lloyd’s building was designed to the most exacting specifications with a revolutionary ‘inside-out’ design – Richard Rogers placed the usual internal elements of a building on the outside as design features. This gives incredible freedom of space inside but makes service work uniquely challenging.
As technology boomed, the cooling systems could no longer cope in summer with the increased heat load from IT equipment. The cooling towers presented an additional challenge: they are round, not square. As Operations Manager Thomas Pound noted, “To replace them we’d have to put a square peg into a round hole.” Adding extra features was impossible without compromising the Grade 1 listed building’s design integrity.
The only viable option was to optimise the existing towers – upgrading performance within the confines of the original round casings. This demanded engineering innovation, not just standard installation capability.
The Solution
Vistech emerged as the frontrunner during the competitive tender, not just for their installation capability but for actively improving the consulting engineers’ designs with innovative ideas focused on easier future maintenance.
Lloyd’s set a demanding proving arrangement: Vistech had to upgrade the first of three towers to the highest standard — completing it between April and June to ensure cooling was viable for the summer — or they would not be commissioned for the remaining two. Vistech agreed, and even offered to refund labour costs if the work did not meet expectations.
The upgrade involved stripping internal fittings, re-coating internal surfaces, installing new high-performance internals, upgrading fans, and fitting new variable speed controllers on motors for greater efficiency and energy savings.
The first tower was completed on time and to a very high standard. The cooling towers had to eject 7 megawatts of heat — previously the system struggled with three towers. After Vistech’s upgrade, this can now be achieved with just two. Since completion, Vistech has been asked back to carry out condition survey work, with everything still operating at optimum performance.
Scope of Works
Internal Strip & Re-coat
Complete strip-out of existing internal fittings and re-coating of all internal surfaces.
New Internals
Design and installation of new high-performance internal components engineered to fit within the unique round tower casings.
Fan Upgrades
Replacement of existing fans with upgraded units delivering improved airflow and performance.
Fan Upgrades
Replacement of existing fans with upgraded units delivering improved airflow and performance.
Variable Speed Controllers
Installation of new variable speed controllers on motors, increasing efficiency and delivering energy savings.
Programme
Phase 1 (Apr–Jun)
Complete upgrade of first cooling tower as a proving exercise, delivered within the tight pre-summer deadline.
Phase 2
Upgrade of second cooling tower following successful Phase 1 completion.
Phase 3
Upgrade of third and final cooling tower, completing the full programme.
“It was extremely enjoyable to work alongside Vistech's engineers. They were coming to the table not simply to shove their kind of solution upon us. They listened and responded to our requirements and delivered results. We've nearly doubled the performance of the towers, which improves efficiency and provides energy saving too. The initial figures pleased us all tremendously.”
— Thomas Pound, Operations Manager, Lloyd's of London