Northcroft Hospital
Introduction
The project was carried out at Northcroft Hospital in Erdington, part of the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital provides clinical and support services and the upgrade was commissioned to replace ageing BMS hardware, improve operational visibility and provide a reliable data platform to support clinical operations, energy management and ongoing performance monitoring.
Project Background
The site previously operated with an obsolete Trend IQ3 controller and touchscreen that limited data retention, visualisation and remote access and constrained fault diagnosis and ongoing monitoring. The client required a modern, expandable controller platform with improved on‑site data storage, clearer operator interfaces and secure remote access to support soft landing after the upgrade and to enable longer term benchmarking of energy measures.
Upgrade Works Carried Out
We removed the Trend IQ3 controller and touchscreen and installed an iSMA MAC36 PRO Controller with expansion modules and a new 15‑inch touchscreen. A 4G router and aerial were fitted to provide secure remote connectivity for soft‑landing and ongoing monitoring. The migration included point‑by‑point configuration of the new controller, restoration of as built schematics, and creation of a fresh O&M Manual.
Plant Monitored and Control Strategy
The upgraded BMS now monitors and modulates:
- Three Boilers with rotated sequencing, staged firing and demand led control;
- A low pressure hot water pump set sequenced and rotated by demand;
- A Variable Temperature Valve operating with Weather Compensation and demand logic;
- A DHW pump set, DHW secondary pump and DHW Heat Exchanger all demand led;
- An integrated Combined Heat and Power unit (CHP);
- Four Cold Water Storage (CWS) Tanks monitored for temperature;
- Water and Gas Meters providing total and monthly consumption figures;
- A Gas Valve interlocked with the site Safety Circuit;
- A Safety Circuit incorporating Emergency KO Buttons, Fire Alarm Interfaces and Thermal Links;
- And seven Two Port Zone Valves each operating to individual time zones with separate daytime and night time Space Temperature Setpoints.
Heating demands are generated by the zone valves and DHW logic and are used to sequence boilers and pumps to meet load efficiently.
Energy and Performance Benefits
The upgrade significantly improved visibility and control, enabling tighter plant sequencing and reduced runtime waste. On site data aggregation now stores and visualises up to twelve months of trend data, allowing seasonal comparisons and clear before and after analysis of energy measures.
Desired or calculated temperatures can be charted against actual temperatures so deviations are quickly identified and traced to root causes, accelerating fault resolution and tuning.
Remote access supported soft landing and warranty period optimisation, reducing site visits and enabling faster response to performance issues.
Crucially, the reliable BMS data now provides verifiable evidence of energy savings from recent measures such as the insulation cladding by D&B Facades, and creates a robust baseline for future AI driven optimisation, HVAC upgrades or targeted retrofit projects that will further reduce consumption and operating costs.
