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The YMCA Foyer concept has been adopted throughout the country, and is intended to provide good quality, affordable accommodation for young people who have left home and need a stable platform from which to set out and obtain that all-important first job opportunity. Well equipped study and IT facilities are on hand in a friendly and secure environment. The YMCA encourages self sufficiency and the residents pay their own energy costs except for background heating which is included within their weekly rent. To reinforce the feeling of independence and responsibility the rooms are all self-contained and fitted with a basic kitchen and en-suite bathroom.
Being non-profit making the YMCA have to keep strict control over costs, so before embarking on plans for 50 new Foyers like the one pictured, Prefect worked closely with the YMCA management to understand the heating needs of a building with this specific type of occupation. Temperatures, occupation times and usage patterns of rooms were monitored individually, which all provided an invaluable insight into the way such a building "operates". A number of energy control strategies were tried through one winter and the final solution agreed was to 'weather compensate' all off-peak load of storage heating in hallways and bed-sits, this was achieved by using the Prefect PRE7101 Charge Optimiser. Secondly, on-peak consumption through fans and other direct-acting elements had to be controlled so that excessive temperatures are avoided, furthermore valuable heat would not be wasted heating unoccupied rooms - this was achieved with the use of the programmable electronic touch activated thermostats - PRE5000. The result? Buildings with completely variable occupancy patterns all running at optimal economy. |
