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    cre.ru, 30 August 2018
    The choice of air conditioning systems for shopping centers

    Sergey Bryuzgin

    Sergey Bryuzgin, Head of the HVAC department of the Metropolis company, gave an interview to the largest commercial real estate portal CRE.ru. It concerned the choice of air conditioning systems for shopping centers depending on the types of objects, competent design and adaptability of systems to the needs of the user.

    - Sergey, what air conditioning systems are suitable for different types of retail premises?


    - Conventionally, commercial real estate can be divided into several main types. Depending on this, our company has determined the main solutions for the installation of refrigeration and air conditioning systems.


    The first category includes retail premises of large areas (from 40,000 sq. m.) and shopping and entertainment centers (separate buildings). Such buildings include, for example, Troika center with a total area of 154,000 sq. m. This is a multifunctional building, including a parking lot, trading floors, boutiques, production and storage facilities, catering points, restaurants and gaming, office, administrative and amenity areas.


    The second type is medium-sized shopping centers (20,000-40,000 sq. m.), free-standing shopping and entertainment centers, as well as built-in or built-in-attached to buildings for other purposes centers. These buildings include the retail and office center of the Marksmart center with a total area of ​​29,800 sq. m. The building is divided into 2 volumes - 6-storey, where trade enterprises and public premises are located, and 14-storey, where, starting from the 7th floor, office premises are located. In the center of the 6-storey volume there is an atrium with a winter garden and 2 escalators with a lift up to the 5th floor; under the entire building there is an underground 3-level car park.


    For the presented objects, high adaptability and adaptability to the requirements of tenants is important. Such facilities should be equipped with modern engineering systems, and their work should be controlled by a highly qualified engineering service. The preferred type of refrigeration system for such facilities is a chiller-fan coil system. It adapts well to the needs of tenants, it can be upgraded.


    The third type is shopping centers with small areas (5,000-20,000 sq. m.), free-standing shopping and entertainment centers, as well as built-in or built-in-attached to buildings for other purposes centers.


    For the presented objects, the following solutions are possible. With a high saturation of the building with engineering systems, an operation service will be present at the facility; for such buildings, the chiller-fan coil system is most preferable. With simpler solutions, it is possible to use VRF-based refrigeration systems. These systems are easier to operate, but may not always provide high consumer flexibility.


    Finally, the last type is retail premises (shops) built into or attached to residential and public buildings (up to 5,000 sq. m.), convenience stores.


    For the objects presented, the following solutions are possible: the use of refrigeration systems based on VRF, and in simpler cases, for retail premises up to 250 sq. m, it is possible to use semi-industrial split systems.


    - Are there general rules for the design of air conditioning systems in all types of objects presented?


    - For the presented objects, their high adaptability to the requirements of tenants is important. Also, in such facilities there is a non-simultaneity in the loading of rental areas - for example, on weekdays, the main load of the refrigeration system will fall on the office part of the building, and on weekends - on the trading part.


    - Is it possible to reduce the installed capacity of refrigeration equipment depending on the need at a particular moment?


    - Yes. With proper design of the building, such an approach is quite possible. Imagine the load on the refrigeration system of different functional premises of one building: retail premises - 1250 kW; office space - 1950 kW. When summing the loads, the building would require a 3.2 MW cooling center. With an integrated approach, modern design makes it possible to redistribute the load on weekdays and weekends, as a result of which the capacity of the refrigeration center can be reduced from 3.2 MW to 2.7 MW.


    Read the full material on the CRE website.