Warriewood Cinema - A Slightly Unusual Solution
The United Cinemas Warriewood replacement project in April 2020 had some slightly unusual application issues. A little lateral thinking, a great product range and the ability to manufacture locally in the middle of a pandemic, produced a successful solution.
Austral Air Conditioning Services has been maintaining the air conditioning at the Warriewood Cinema Complex on Sydney’s Northern beaches for over 20 years. The original installation, done nearly 25 years ago was unusual, with multiple York Rooftop Package units installed inside a plant room. This presented two problems:
- Maintenance work in the plant room was quite difficult due to the lack of space.
- Access to the plant room was only possible through the interior of the cinema complex. This meant that the removal and replacement process would disrupt the cinema operation for several days at least.
When planning started in 2019 on a replacement for the aging York package units, Austral approached Temperzone to help with the development of a novel solution for the space and access problems. Gary Allen from Austral said: “We chose Temperzone because we have worked with Temperzone equipment at two other Cinema complexes in Narellan in Sydney and Craigieburn in Melbourne.”
The solution to the cramped plant room was to use Temperzone ECO series commercial split ducted units, instead of rooftop package units. The outdoor units were mounted on a new rooftop platform and the indoor units were placed in the plant room and connected up to the existing ductwork. Space problem solved!
The COVID-19 lockdown created a window of opportunity for the replacement program. With the cinemas closed to the public, the removal of the old package units from the plant room could be done with no direct business interruption.
Temperzone Australia has continued production of their air conditioners in Sydney right through the entire pandemic and were able to manufacture the 6x 65kW and 2x 55kW ECO series split ducted units required for this project. The ECO series split ducted units have one standard scroll and one variable capacity scroll compressor as well as dual EEV’s delivering both close control and efficiency.
Gary Allen summed up Temperzone’s role in the project by saying ”Temperzone were prepared to work with us to develop alternatives that best suited the application.”
The units were produced and delivered at a time when other manufacturers were unable to access offshore manufactured product. Without doubt the pandemic has highlighted the importance of local manufacturing.
The replacement process went ahead in April 2020 and the Cinema complex has subsequently reopened, albeit with limited capacity to comply with social distancing rules.
It’s reasonable to suggest that there would be significant reduction in energy consumption between the Temperzone ECO series Split Ducted just installed and the 25 year old York Package Units.
For more information on Temperzone ECO Series Split Ducted product please click here to visit the product page where you can download the current product brochure
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