HVAC technologies

HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) is an expanding part of NIS core capability. The field broadly covers the following elements, often referred to as ‘building services':

  • Heating and ventilation
  • Air conditioning
  • Low pressure hot water heating
  • Steam and condense
  • Domestic water services
  • Drainage (both gravity and pumped)
  • Piped gases
  • Distributed vacuum systems
  • Controls and instrumentation

The HVAC industry also extends across many different market sectors, each of which can be sub-divided further:

  • Civil Nuclear
  • Ministry Of Defence
  • Commercial
  • Light and heavy industry
  • Health service
  • Local authority

The guiding principles, calculations and methodology for the above are largely the same which is why NIS proficiency in certain elements allows us to transfer knowledge easily and provide HVAC solutions for other sectors.

NIS can support large projects with multiple services, using a principle engineer (technical lead/design authority) with a team of designers/CAD operatives split across each service. The use of supporting software packages (Hevacomp, Pipenet etc.) enhances our capability, and enables projects to be handled by a small dedicated team.

NIS has carried out HVAC designs for many of the major nuclear sites within the UK. This includes framework agreements in support of multi-discipline design, and decommissioning projects at various locations.

Our team is fully conversant with each client's in-house design procedures and can deliver a coherent design and/or build package to suit, including full projects. These can be ‘fast tracked' if necessary, with the client's support. Further support to projects can be offered in the form of our additional services such as independent assessments, safety reviews and HAZOP studies.

We are guided by professional institutions, including the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), who provide a series of professional guidelines and packages not only to support the design of HVAC systems but also the commissioning, operation, energy saving and future requirements.
NIS is also an active member of the UK Nuclear Vent Forum, who are seeking to rationalise design standards for the benefit of the nuclear vent industry as a whole.