Over 30 years in the planning and boasting over 80,000 products, the Trago Mills superstore in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales has over 350 staff members and 200,000m² of retail space. The huge retail development stretches ½ mile long end-to-end.
Navigating a store as large as Trago Mills can often take hours and the comfort of visitors was a key driver in the design of the store. The ventilation strategy would need to provide adequate fresh air to potentially a few thousand customers, whilst also offering good levels of heat recovery to ensure a consistent temperature.
Alongside the large retail spaces, the site also consists of various offices and administrative areas. Ventilation in these areas needed to ensure the same level of comfort and efficiency as the rest of the store; however, space was a premium.
Seven Boxer Bespoke AHU's were supplied, spread across the three buildings. Due to their size, five of these AHUs were used in the main retail area alone, all complete with thermal wheel heat exchangers. The inclusion of thermal wheels allowed the site to benefit from considerable levels of heat recovery, whilst making the best use of vertical spaces. For office areas, XBC units were supplied to provide similarly high levels of heat recovery with the limited void space available. The inclusion of Nuaire systems to Wales’ biggest retail space has ensured high levels of indoor air quality and maximum occupancy well-being and comfort.
“We needed to design a ventilation strategy to provide adequate fresh air for the occupants, along with good levels of heat recovery.”
