Client: Halton Borough Council Requirement: Cooling system Solution: Breezair Evaporative Air Cooling System

CoSaf goes to Market - keeping Widnes cool

Dedicated to taking an active approach to ensure best practice in areas such as the environment, Halton Borough Council in Cheshire has found a cost effective way of cooling Widnes Market Hall, whilst at the same time maintaining its “green” credentials. CoSaf Environments has installed the environmentally friendly Breezair Evaporative Cooling system in the Market Hall reducing summer temperatures from a sweltering high of 30oC to a more comfortable 20oC.

An integral part of Greenoaks Centre shopping mall, the state-of-the-art Market Hall is a focal point within Widnes Town Centre. Built in 1995, the 40,000 sq. ft Hall accommodates 184 market stalls selling a variety of wares including food and speciality goods. Daylight is provided by windows around the perimeter of the high roof as well as from a polycarbonate skylight, which covers a third of the ceiling.
Although the windows and skylight provide the Market Hall with beneficial daylight, the sun beating through the windows during June, July and August caused excessively high temperatures. This not only made working conditions uncomfortable for the stallholders but also resulted in shoppers staying away, caused food to perish quickly and items such as chocolate and dairy foods to melt.

Looking at ways off improving conditions, Manager, John McLoughlin, initially installed ceiling fans in the Market Hall but these proved totally ineffective during the hot summer months. Dismissing air conditioning as prohibitively expensive and requiring too large an area, the Breezair Evaporative Air Cooling System was recommended. The system has also been installed successfully at Warrington Market Following a visit to Warrington to see the Breezair system in operation, a number of units were installed into Widnes Market Hall, as a first phase, to see how they performed.
“We had to find a solution to the problem as the stallholders were complaining about lost revenue and poor working conditions”, said John McLoughlin. “We initially installed a few units to see how effective they would be and they certainly made a great difference. We therefore made the decision last summer for CoSaf Environments to install a second phase of units to cover the remainder of the Hall”.

Now, the evaporative cooling units have been strategically placed in rows to cover the total area of the Market Hall. They have provided the Market with an effective cooling system at a fraction of the cost of conventional air conditioning.

John McLoughlin concluded: “I am extremely pleased with the system. It is simple to operate, quiet to run and easy to maintain. It has provided a dramatically improved environment for both stallholders and shoppers”.