RSP Consulting Engineers

DESEO RESTAURANT (1^st Phase)

The Deseo (meaning ‘whatever you desire' in Spanish) comprises a sunken restaurant eating area with coffered ceiling, overlooked by a bar and open kitchen area.  Adjacent to this is the food emporium which contains a number of different food stations and a ‘quiet dining' area.

The mechanical design for Deseo presented a number of challenges.  The absence of any new internal plant space dictated that the domestic water and LTHW supplies for heating would have to be provided from the hotels existing systems.  Whilst the hotels central plant had the capacity to serve the projects requirements, its location meant that pipework would have had to be routed through a number of other hotel areas.  With the expense and disruption of this (plus associated shut-downs) unacceptable to the hotel, RSP's solution for the domestic water was to provide a temporary supply from the staff accommodation block adjacent to the site which would serve the phase I project until it could be connected to a new boosted water services system being installed as part of the phase II works.  

With no similarly suitable temporary LTHW supplies available, a different approach was required for the Deseo heating which is provided via the air handing plant.  In addition to an LTHW heating coil, the solution was to incorporate a DX coil coupled to 3no heat pumps within the AHU.   As well as providing cooling, the heat pump capacity would be sufficient to satisfy the heating demand until late summer/early autumn (phase I complete mid summer) by which time the supplementary LTHW heating coil supply would be available from phase II.  A new gas (LPG) supply to serve the new kitchen also had to be provided from the hotels existing central LPG tank farm.

As well as there being no new internal plant space, available space for the roof mounted heating/cooling and air handling plant was restricted by the pitched restaurant roof construction and the hotels requirement to avoid as far as practically possible the view of plant.  Coupled with an inaccessible roof void above the food emporiums existing vaulted ceiling, a restrictive perimeter ceiling void space in the restaurant due to the coffered ceiling and the high air volumes required in particular for the various kitchen and food emporium canopies;  the routing of ductwork to/from the spaces proved challenging.  To overcome, ductwork serving the food emporium canopies was routed externally around the perimeter of the building on cantilevered support brackets, with supply and extract spigot penetrations through the wall directly into the back of the canopies.  The restaurant supply air was provided via continuous linear grille and carefully co-ordinated ductwork routed within a section of the perimeter ceiling void, air is extracted via the ceiling void through a similar linear grille and 3no local extract fans.

One of the main challenges to the electrical design was to bring together all of the services required including the strip out of the existing installation, the new interior design concept, kitchen design, existing fire alarm design, voice/ data installation and mechanical power, whilst keeping the adjoining areas of the hotel functional during the project works. This was achieved by having hands on approach on site, interfacing with Gleneagles maintenance staff, the maintenance companies for the specialist plant and continuous discussion with the other design team members to reach a successful conclusion.

Particular challenges were found in the selection of sub mains supplies, which would have to be installed for the Deseo and Spa project at an early stage of the installation programme. At the early stage key information was unknown as the Spa design had not yet commenced, therefore certain assumptions including load profiling had to be made. Additionally to add to the complications faced, the number of ways available from the hotels main incomer was restricted giving a low margin for error in the calculations made.

The Deseo building opened in July 2007 and has been in use for the past 9 months. Initial feedback from discussions with the chefs and staff who work in this facility is that the Deseo is meeting and exceeding the expectations of their clients who attend the Deseo restaurant to experience the unique cuisine and interior finish expected of a 5 star hotel.

THE SPA (2^nd phase)

The new Spa (named ‘The Spa') which is operated by renowned skincare brand ESPA contains a variety of facilities.  The heat experience area comprises separate sex sauna, steam room and feature showers which lead users to a unisex hydrotherapy pool.  Adjoining areas include separate sex relaxation spaces; a unisex courtyard featuring indoor pond, tree and decorative fire; spa café; reception area, changing rooms and back of house offices, staff rooms and plant spaces.  The spa also contains 20no spacious treatment rooms, many of which have private bathrooms.

The prestigious and technical nature of The Spa ensured the appointment of a large project design team; with Gleneagles Hotel and ESPA the combined clients, the team included architect, interior designer, structural engineer, M&E consultant, lighting designer, hydrotherapy pool designer and a specialist heat experience design team from Germany.  Understanding and accommodating the needs of these clients and design team members was paramount to the success of the finished product, and this was achieved through a regular and intensive meeting programme.  Provision of critical M&E supplies to the pool and heat experience equipment required additional interfacing with the relevant specialists and careful review of all their drawings and specifications.       

Mechanically, the main design challenges of The Spa were of an aesthetic nature as opposed to the spatial constraints experienced in phase I.  ESPA's demanding design brief for air conditioning in the treatment rooms included the requirement for no visible grilles or access panels, very low noise levels and no air movement at the treatment tables.  To satisfy this brief RSP worked closely with the architect and interior designer to introduce and return air via a hidden ceiling slot detail, with access to the acoustically lined ductwork/air conditioning unit via removable panels in the floor to ceiling furniture.  The mechanical brief for all other public spaces was a continuation of this theme; linear supply grilles, return/extract air via hidden ceiling slots, no visible pipes services and a minimum number of access panels.  Achieving the latter requirement required detailed co-ordination with the mechanical sub-contractor and interior designer to ensure wherever possible that equipment and valves requiring access were positioned outwith public spaces or as sensitively as possible within public spaces. 

A new boosted hot and cold water system incorporating hot water generation plant in the form of 2no plate heat calorifiers was provided for The Spa to ensure the pressure and flowrate requirements of the heat experience equipment, pool equipment and showers were satisfied, pressure reducing valves were installed where necessary to prevent splashback at WHB's.  LTHW supplies for pool/heat experience equipment heat exchangers and AHU heating coils were provided from the hotels existing system and these works included having to shut down, drain and divert a 150mmØ F&R heating main.  Disruption and downtime to the hotel was minimised by fabricating the new heating main section off site and installing during the night.    

Primary heating/cooling of The Spa is provided by an energy efficient 2-pipe simultaneous heating and cooling VRF system with heat recovery outdoor unit.  Distribution of the conditioned air is via concealed ceiling void units ducted to linear grilles.  An exception to this system is the hydrotherapy pool where the heating, ventilation and dehumidification requirements are controlled solely and automatically by a high efficiency supply and extract AHU complete with 3 stage heat recovery recuperator.

Finally, both The Spa and Deseo have an automatic mechanical services control system which is linked to the hotels local area network (LAN).  This allows the hotels maintenance staff to adjust system settings and monitor operation and faults from a front end PC located within the facilities/maintenance office.

The electrical design of The Spa area included taking ownership of a part of the building that had last been refurbished 30 years ago and with the inevitable additional installation work in the years leading up to the new refurbishment works. This in turn led to a services jigsaw being pieced together once the existing ceilings were removed and the strip out works identified some obstacles that needed to be overcome. This included the existing fire alarm loops, the voice data installation that fed adjoining buildings, the existing wiring to other parts of the building and the spacious ceiling void that would need a high level of fire detection.

 One particular design challenge was in the lighting control system design to meet the functional requirements of the lighting designer given that artificial lighting was provided by tungsten, cold cathode, fluorescent, fibre optic (via metal halide) and LED making up the 6000+ lamps that were installed in the SPA area footprint. This was coupled to the allocated budget of the lighting scheme within the overall project costs. The solution was for RSP to opt for an iLight based system with satellite lighting control panels, 6 function controllers for each of the 20 Treatment rooms and a front end LCD lighting control panel at the main reception area to change the lighting mood in each area of the building.

Given the complexity of the project and also the need to keep other areas of the hotel in use, RSP required to attend site on a regular basis, answer and overcome the technical challenges faced and contribute to ensuring that The Spa was available to Gleneagles on the 1^st March 2008. This was achieved with all commissioning and handover documentation being signed off prior Gleneagles taking ownership of The Spa in the required completion date.