Sustainable considerations are at the forefront of our ‘masterplan’ to assess the use of the College’s buildings over the next few years.
Drawda Hall has newly installed thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs). Throughout College, when regular valves break, a TRV is installed and in 2023 the College will speed up this process by pre-emptively installing TRVs. The valves allow control of the temperature in an individual room by selecting a number on the dial. Each number corresponds to a temperature and when the temperature drops below the value the valve allows the hot water from the heating system to flow into the radiator.
We are also trialling smart valves in Back Quad; these valves sense when someone is in the room and adjust the temperature accordingly and can also switch off radiators when they sense the windows have been opened. We are collecting data from rooms with and without the valves in order to measure their effectiveness and we plan to trail a different type of smart valve in 2023 for comparison.
Other buildings have a similar compensatory system whereby the water temperature is controlled based on the outdoor temperature. These systems vary by location in the building.
