Developers can now choose Radiana, a revolutionary new climate control product which responds to factors such as body heat, to help them achieve the thermal comfort features outlined in the new WELL v2™ pilot, the latest version of the WELL Building Standard™.
Promoting the positive impacts of buildings on human health and wellness, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has recognised the use of radiant cooling systems under WELL v2. WELL is the leading tool for advancing health and wellbeing in buildings globally: Originally launched in 2014, it’s now being adopted in the UK where the wellbeing of the people inside buildings is becoming increasingly important.
WELL v2 is comprised of ten concepts, including features for thermal comfort in buildings, criteria under which radiant systems, such as Radiana can provide additional thermal comfort benefits:
- Thermal zoning: Credits for multiple zones and individual control
- Radiant thermal comfort: Credit is given to hydronic radiant heating and/or cooling systems if at least 50% of the project floor area is serviced by this system
- Humidity control: Credit is given if the mechanical system has the capability of maintaining relative humidity between 30% and 60% at all times.
Radiant cooling is a technology used to cool buildings based on heat absorption through cold surfaces. Hot always travels to cold, so Radiana ceiling panels are made cooler than the rest of the room and when activated via an app, cool water passes through the pipes in the Radiana ceiling panels and absorbs heat from the room. This warmer water is then fed into a heat pump, chilled and channelled back around the ceiling until the desired temperature is reached.
Radiana environmental consultant David Brunt, explained: “Radiana provides us with a healthy and more sustainable way to cool our buildings. It doesn’t dry out the air, it doesn’t create uncomfortable cold draughts and it has lower running costs than conventional air conditioning. It also provides a consistent temperature right across a room, maintaining this within +/-0.5oC, and the zoning features of Radiana means thermal comfort for all occupants can be effectively controlled.
“While the benefits of Radiana have been proven through a series of studies, knowing it can now help a building achieve certain thermal comfort features within the internationally-recognised WELL v2 pilot, the case for its installation is gathering momentum.”
Radiana can be directly fitted to a ceiling frame and no specialist certification is required for its installation. Radiana provides a full design, specification and after-sales service to ensure the system is fully understood, installed and maintained.