Heart of the City – Sheffield

Project name: Heart of the City
Location: Sheffield
Valve Supplier: Albion Valves (UK) Limited
Contractor: H E Barnes

Being a South Yorkshire-based business, Albion Valves was delighted to be involved with one of South Yorkshire’s biggest mechanical projects – Heart of the City in Sheffield.

The Heart of the City project is utilising a phase-by-phase approach to developing 1.5 million sq. ft of city centre space – both through new-builds and refurbishment. Its current phase ‘Block H’ will see retail units, food, entertainment venues, and office space be created at a cost of over £40m.

The 70,000 sq. ft office space within the development will house around 750 employees across 7 floors when complete. It has been designed to minimise operational energy and is set to emit around 40% less carbon than a typical Building Regulations compliant design!

The development of ‘Block H’ will include the conservation of 2 street-facing fronts, another existing building being sympathetically renovated, and the construction of some contemporary new buildings.

H E Barnes was appointed as the Mechanical Contractor for this project, who worked closely with the Project Support Team at Albion Valves (UK) Limited. Albion Valves assisted H E Barnes with their take-offs and schematic drawings, ensuring that they had a complete suite of professional documentation, including Labelled Drawings, Bill of Materials, Sizing Schedules, and Technical Submittals.

Albion has a complete valve solution for any building services project, and the Heart of the City project certainly utilised the whole range! Valves were installed throughout the buildings in the plant rooms, risers, and branches; along with Albion’s general range of valves, Albion also supplied PICV’s complete with modulating control actuators for use within the heating and cooling system to assist with the scheme’s aim to minimise operational energy.
The range of valves installed included Ball Valves, Butterfly Valves, Check Valves, Safety Valves, Pressure Reducing Valves (PRV’s), Solenoid Valves and a range of Balancing Products such as DRV’s and PICV’s.

Paul Dobson, Operations Director at H E Barnes, says: “At H E Barnes we really pride ourselves on working with great local suppliers and sub-contractors. We firmly believe that Albion Valves fall into this category. We have worked closely with them over the last 6-7 years, and always find them knowledgeable and helpful. Their technical backup is very good, and they are proactive if any issues do arise. They are competitive but maintain high-quality products and level of service. They are our preferred valve supplier on all projects, and we look forward to further developing our close working relationship with them, and certainly have no problem at all recommending them to new clients”.

Dan Crosswaite, Sales Director at Albion Valves, comments: “We first started working with H E Barnes on the Heart of the City project in August 2021; when the mechanical side of this project was in its infancy. Being involved at this early stage allowed us to work closely with H E Barnes throughout the whole mechanical process – really emphasising Albion’s cradle-to-grave service.”