Unilever House, an imposing Grade II listed building on the banks of the River Thames, is the world headquarters of Unilever, manufacturer of leading brands in foods, home care and personal care. Eight floors of the 38,000 sq m building which contains open plan office space for around 500 people, were redeveloped behind the retained facade.

Their requirement for their HQ building included high quality air conditioning and Stanhope, the developers, short listed TROX who then made various presentations and quotations to the selected team.

TROX Design Bureau was able to offer guarantees on the entire fan coil system if the grilles and diffusers were included as a complete system approach.

TROX supplied over 600 fan coil units and a wide range of grilles and diffusers and overtook system responsibility from the inlet of the fan coil to the discharge air from the diffusers.

Before they were installed at Unilever House, TROX Design Bureau conducted a series of tests on the units at one of the laboratories in Thetford, Norfolk. The company then produced a test report illustrating air distribution, thermal loads and sound levels.

The tests enabled the company to determine which slot diffusers would provide the best occupancy conditions in terms of air distribution and thermal uniformity, and to investigate what effect different fan coil units and air distribution systems would have on the sound pressure level in the space.

Much of the TROX equipment was prefabricated. For example fitting of modular wiring pieces, fan enabled relays, as well as free issue controllers and valves etc., making a complete fan coil package. This was all assembled in the factory which saved valuable time on site and guaranteed the quality of the system.