By Joanne Sim

This week is World Water Week. For Cundall, water forms a key part of our designs across our projects, for our various disciplines, in very different ways. Here are some examples.

Moving water efficiently

The London 2012 venue, Lee Valley White Water Centre, involved moving lots of water to create a world class sporting venue. Our civil engineers used CFD modelling and designed a dual-channel facility that greatly reduces energy usage.

Reducing water

Green spaces have a wide range of benefits, however how do you balance water consumption with healthy gardens? At the award winning Hong Kong Science Park, rainwater harvesting and condensate collection for irrigation system has resulted in zero potable water for irrigation.

Connecting water usage and data centre efficiencies

The currently established data centre sustainability metrics (PUE, WUE, and CUE) evaluate a data centre’s efficiency, accounting for the resource usage on-site only. However, water is required to generate power, and electricity is used to produce water, the so-called Water-Energy nexus. Cundall’s white paper evaluates the performance of Direct Air Optimisation (DAO) and Indirect Air Optimisation (IAO) systems in locations with different water and power generation characteristics. Click her for full paper.

Testing and filtering water

At One Carter Lane, during the testing to achieve the first WELL Standard project in London, the incoming mains’ water quality was tested with results indicating that World Health Organisation(WHO) recommended limits were not being achieved. Therefore, filters were added to the design, demonstrating the importance of testing to ensure target performance standards are achieved.

Integrating teaching water

When designing the Plumbing Industry Climate Action Centre (PICAC), an innovative $9m training facility for plumbers and mechanical contractors, a key feature was that all the services in the building also from part of the training curriculum. Because of this, a key requirement of the design was that all services where able to be isolated without disrupting the operation of the facility.

Water run-off reduction

At Burgess Park BMX track, the site incorporates Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) within the below ground drainage system with swales featuring heavily around the track and soft landscaping areas. This helps achieve a reduced rate of surface water run-off from the site as well as enhancing the water quality.

Water heat exchange

Brooke Street Ferry Terminal, a modern and innovative floating terminal, has a number of energy conservation and climatically responsive measures. The air conditioning system gets its heating and cooling demands using a seawater heat exchange.