Designing an M&E scheme for a luxury store, where M&E shouldn't be visible
A luxury outerwear brand was fitting out a new store at a designer outlet village in Oxfordshire. The landlord and the brand both required the building services to be concealed, and the design went through the landlord's staged approval process.
Concept sketch: services concealed above the ceiling, linear slots and a recessed air curtain.
The brief
The landlord's design rules do not allow visible surface-mounted units in customer areas without approval, and require larger systems to use VRF heat recovery. The brand wanted no cassettes, exposed ductwork or industrial grilles on the shop floor.
Concealed services
We designed a VRF heat recovery system with ducted indoor units in the ceiling void, supplying through linear slot diffusers coordinated with the ceiling. Fresh air comes from a heat recovery ventilation unit controlled on carbon dioxide, with a specific fan power of 1.0 W/l/s.
A recessed air curtain sits above the entrance, interlocked with the doors. Containment is concealed in the retail areas, and every visible device, sensor and grille was coordinated with the store design. Noise is limited to NR38 on the shop floor.
Landlord approvals
The outlet village has a staged approval process, from consent to start the fit-out to consent to trade. We modelled the store in IES to confirm the heating and cooling loads and estimate annual energy use, and responded to the landlord's comments, including the fire alarm interfaces with the landlord's system.
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