Commercial air conditioning in London

Buildings we fit and maintain

We fit and maintain air conditioning in most kinds of business premises across London. Each building brings its own problem, so the plan starts with how you use the space.

Offices

Offices gain heat from people, computers and the sun, so areas on one floor can need different settings. Zoned control lets each area run at its own temperature.

Shops

Shops lose cool air through open doors, and the outdoor unit often has to fit in a rear yard or on a flat roof. If you rent, your landlord will usually have a say in that position.

Restaurants and kitchens

Restaurants need two separate jobs: cooling for the dining room and ventilation for the kitchen. HSE says kitchen ventilation has to remove fumes, vapours and heat, usually through a canopy hood. Air conditioning doesn’t replace that.

Source: HSE on catering.

Server rooms

Server rooms make heat day and night, all year, so the cooling has to keep running when the rest of the building is cold. A second unit is worth pricing if your business stops when the servers stop.

Gyms

Gyms fill with warm, damp air when they’re busy, so the cooling has to work alongside a steady supply of fresh air.

Salons

Salons make heat from dryers and styling tools, and fumes from their products. Air conditioning deals with the heat alone. HSE says to keep the workplace well ventilated, and to use an extractor hood or down-draught table for nail work.

Source: HSE on beauty work.

Systems for business premises

The right system for a business depends on the floor area, how many zones need their own control and what the building already has. Commercial air conditioning installation usually uses one of these five:

These are general fits, and the survey settles what your building needs.

VRF stands for variable refrigerant flow. The building is split into zones, and heat recovery versions can heat one zone while cooling another.

System size has a legal side too. A bigger system holds more refrigerant, and that can bring it under the rules in the next section. How the main types differ.

Source: Mitsubishi Electric’s UK guide to VRF.

Your legal duties as a business

Your legal duties as a business depend on the size of the system and who controls it. Four checks cover most London premises:

• F-gas leak checks and records, from 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
• an energy inspection, once units add up to more than 12 kW
• a reasonable temperature and enough fresh air
• your lease, and planning for outdoor units

F-gas leak checks and records

F-gas leak checks are required by law once a system holds 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more. Tonnes here measures the gas’s effect on the climate, not its weight.

Automatic leak detection is compulsory at 500 tonnes or more.

The equipment label shows the figure on systems sold since 1 January 2017. As a guide, 5 tonnes is about 2.4 kg of R-410A, or 7.4 kg of R-32.

From 5 tonnes, you must keep records for 5 years. They cover:

• the type and amount of gas in the system
• any gas added during maintenance
• the dates and results of leak checks
• how gas was recovered and disposed of
• the firms that fitted or serviced the system

A leak must be repaired as soon as possible, then checked again within a month. Breaking these rules can lead to a civil penalty. How to check an engineer’s F-gas details.

Sources: GOV.UK on leak checks, GOV.UK on records and the F-gas Regulation, Article 4, Article 12 and Annex I.

Air conditioning inspections

An air conditioning inspection is compulsory once the units one person controls in a building add up to more than 12 kW. The rule covers England and Wales. It’s often called a TM44 inspection, after the guide that assessors use.

Small units count together, so a row of small wall units can pass the limit. The rule works like this:

• an accredited energy assessor must carry it out
• inspections must be no more than 5 years apart
• a new system’s first inspection is due within 5 years of starting up
• you keep the latest report, and pass it on if someone takes over
• if you take over with no report, you have 3 months to get one

The duty usually sits with the system’s owner. On a full repairing and insuring lease, it sits with the occupier. Your council’s Trading Standards officers can issue a £300 penalty if there’s no report.

You don’t have to act on the report’s advice, but it can show where running costs could come down.

Source: GOV.UK’s guide to air conditioning inspections.

Workplace temperature and fresh air

Workplace temperature has no legal maximum, but indoor workplaces must be kept at a reasonable temperature. Guidance suggests at least 16C, or 13C where the work is physically hard. HSE classes heat as a hazard, so employers must assess the risk and act on it.

Air conditioning is one of the steps HSE lists, and it isn’t always the first. For a few hot afternoons, blinds or moving desks out of the sun may be enough.

Fresh air is a separate duty. HSE says systems that recirculate air, air conditioning included, should have fresh-air inlets that are kept open. Many split and VRF units move room air without bringing any in, so ventilation may need its own plan.

Sources: GOV.UK on workplace temperatures and HSE on the law, managing temperature, extreme heat and ventilation.

Your lease and planning permission

Your lease comes first if you rent the premises. Check what it says about alterations, and get any consent in writing before work starts.

If the lease allows improvements with consent, the law says your landlord can’t refuse unreasonably. The landlord can still ask for reasonable costs.

Planning comes next. The permitted development right for air source heat pumps is written for domestic premises. That part of the order has no matching right for shops or offices. So ask your council before any outdoor unit goes up, and expect questions about noise. How planning works for air con.

Sources: the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 and the planning order.

Maintenance contracts for business systems

Maintenance contracts put a business system on a set timetable, so services and legal checks don’t get missed. The law doesn’t ask for a yearly service on every system, but it does ask for leak checks from 5 tonnes.

A clear contract should set out:

• which units it covers
• how many visits you get each year, and what each one includes
• who carries out the leak checks, and who keeps the records
• who arranges the energy inspection
• how you report a fault

A contract can make a service firm responsible for the inspection, but GOV.UK says the landlord or occupier keeps a parallel duty. So check it’s been done.

Older systems need an early look, because GOV.UK says replacing their refrigerant is restricted. A leak on one can mean a new system.

What a service covers, and what to do when a system fails.

Source: GOV.UK’s guide to air conditioning inspections.

Fitting around your opening hours

Fitting work can be planned around your opening hours, so you can keep trading where the building allows it. We’ll ask about your busy periods at the survey. These steps usually keep disruption down:

• doing the noisy drilling before you open, or on your quietest day
• working through the building one area at a time
• covering desks and stock, and clearing up as the work moves on
• booking lifts, loading bays and roof access with the building manager

Some buildings limit when noisy work can happen, so check with your managing agent first.

How commercial work is priced

Commercial work is priced from a site survey, because two buildings of the same size can need very different jobs. These things move the price most:

• the type of system and the number of zones
• the length and route of the pipe runs
• access to the roof or ceiling void, including any crane or scaffold
• work outside normal hours
• taking out an old system and recovering its gas

After the survey, you get a written quote for the whole job. How prices work, or send your details.