Playing a key role in the implementation of the UK’s first purpose built “Media City”, Vital Energi is delivering an energy efficient tri-generation scheme based on combined heat and power technology providing electrical power, heating and cooling on this environmentally friendly media complex.

Based at Manchester’s Salford Quays, MediaCityUK will provide an internationally significant focal point for the creative and digital industries when the BBC relocate from London to the new site in 2011 which will also be home to a number of companies linked to broadcasting and the media industry. When complete the £500m Peel Media site will comprise 7 million sq ft of business, retail and residential space and is one of the most exciting projects currently taking place in the UK. 

MediaCityUK uniquely integrates sustainability measures throughout its planning, design and construction, and as a result will be the first development in the world to become a BREEAM approved sustainable community.

Working closely together with the clients’ team of Cofely, Bovis Lend Lease and Peel, Vital Energi have already completed the installation of an underground network of specialist pre-insulated pipes, which will link the core of this centralised energy, the energy efficient ‘energy centre’, to nearby buildings, distributing heating and cooling to those working and living in the new media complex.

Employing a company that can not only deliver the energy infrastructure for MediaCityUK but also add value, design and innovation to such a significant and extensive scheme, Vital Energi’s knowledge and expertise has also been utilised to carry out detailed design works relating to the construction of this impressive energy centre housed within a purpose built two thousand space multi story car park on the site. 

In addition, taking advantage of the development’s waterside setting located right next to the Manchester Ship Canal, Vital Energi’s in-house design engineers have also developed a novel on-site canal cooling system.  The system has been designed to extract recyclable canal water which will then be used to cool the BBC studio buildings in the Winter months and provide cooling for the absorption chillers and the CHP unit during the Summer.  By integrating the cooling from CHP with “free cooling” from the canal, this provides for even greater cooling efficiency in the overall system, helping to lower energy bills on this high profile development and also reduce the impact on the environment.

Vital Energi’s project engineering team are currently installing of all the generating plant, equipment and pipework that makes up the 40MW tri-generation energy centre. The carefully selected and sizeable plant and equipment within the energy centre includes two 9MW gas boilers with room for modular expansion to add an additional two 9MW boilers, a 2MW CHP engine providing heat and power and a 1.5MW absorption chiller providing cooling to the studios.

MediaCityUK is a significant project for Vital Energi, the first of its kind in the UK which is being undertaken by an organisation with a significant track record in the delivery of decentralised energy generation and distribution projects, with the design expertise to ensure that the solution not only meets environmental and technical requirements but also importantly integrates into the scheme as a whole.