Client: Flintshire County Council
Installation contractors: Lester Fabrications (wall); Kimpton Building Systems (M&E)
Tata Steel products: Colorcoat Renew SC® solar air heating system with microperforated Trisobuild® C32 profile solar collector. Installed vertically over a Trisobuild® C32 wall profile.
Year: 2011

Deeside Leisure Centre is the National Centre for Ice Sports in Wales. Energy efficiency was a key requirement when the building was redeveloped in 2011. The building envelope was transformed using Tata Steel’s Colorcoat® products. Installation of the Colorcoat Renew SC® solar air heating
system was a vital part of the solution. It provides renewable energy which has cut operating costs and reduced the leisure centre’s carbon footprint.

The challenge

For the redevelopment of the centre, Flintshire County Council insisted on an exterior treatment that was sympathetic to the local environment. Efficient and effective use of water, energy and materials was another important proviso. 

“Flintshire County Council had identified energy supply issues as a key constraining factor in the redevelopment of the site,” explained Andy Allen, Tata Steel’s Sales Development Manager for Colorcoat Renew SC®. “The existing electrical supply was at capacity and could not be increased so an energy reduction programme was essential to allow expansion of the facilities. A change in internal use also required a supply of clean, fresh, tempered air to provide the optimum environment for occupancy comfort.”

The solution

The south-facing elevation of the leisure centre was over-clad with a Trisobuild® C32 profile as part of the Colorcoat Renew SC® solar air heating system. Using 216m² of Colorcoat Prisma® in Slate Grey, the micro-perforated Trisobuild® C32 fascia was installed easily over the existing insulated wall cladding. Trisobuild® R32 profile manufactured from Colorcoat Prisma® in Oyster was additionally installed over the leisure centre’s existing roof cladding.

In its first full year of operation at Deeside Leisure Centre, Colorcoat Renew® delivered 47 MWh of heat. This equates to 218kWh per square metre of the installed solar collector area. By gaining fuller experience of system control and operation, Deeside Leisure Centre personnel in conjunction with Tata Steel were able to extend the Colorcoat Renew SC® system operating hours to optimise use of the available solar radiation.

In its second full year of operation the system delivered approximately 53 MWh of renewable heat energy at an average yield of 244kWh per square metre per year. This means that over a two-year period the Colorcoat Renew SC® system delivered an average of 50MWh of energy per year at conversion efficiencies (solar energy to useable heat energy) averaging in excess of 70%.