La Trobe - An Educated Heating Design

National Trust protected, the Institute of Advanced Study at La Trobe University (a former Melbourne psychiatric hospital) has been successfully transformed to accommodate visiting academics and encourage interaction between scholars, staff and post-graduate students.

Heating office areas, meeting rooms and the large seminar hall required some thought and expertise. NOBO was chosen for the project as the versatility of the product range enabled engineers from Umow Lai & Associates to offer solutions to each of the varied user requirements.

The Seminar Hall posed the greatest challenge. NOBO Radiant Ceiling Cassettes were the obvious choice to counter a ceiling height of eight metres. Fans and light fittings prohibited the installation and a second option needed to be identified. NOBO have wide and varied experience to draw on; they have successfully heated hundreds of schools and universities over many years in Australia. The decision was made to provide NOBO low level skirting panel heaters, centrally controlled with a common thermostat.

Since project completion the heating performance has been excellent. An allergy free environment, no noise, smell or air movement provided a result conducive to the comfort level demanded in this facility. There has been no maintenance or breakdown of this simple cost-effective heating system.

Individual offices are heated by NOBO T4N convection panels. Simple and economical to install, the wall mounted panels offer each occupant the flexibility of individual comfort settings. NOBO’s Orion Mains Signaling maintains the integrity of the heating system by providing power to heaters as required. Fixed temperature settings for hallways are further protected with tamperproof switch and thermostat covers.