New Zealand supermarket giant Progressive Enterprises has made a commitment to reduce the company’s overall carbon footprint by 40% by 2015, bringing emissions back to 2006 levels.

Progressive, a subsidiary of Australian company Woolworths Limited, owns and operates 152 supermarkets in New Zealand including the Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown brands. Over the next five years all Woolworths and Foodtown stores will be converted to the Countdown brand.

Fantech NZ is proud to have been associated with the latest new store, Countdown Manukau located in Manukau City, South Auckland. McAlpine Hussmann Limited was contracted to install the mechanical services. Air Conditioning Sales and Project Engineer Edlay Hojird said the building had a 10,000sqm (100 x 100m) footprint, with a single level basement car park and ground floor retail area.

Along with all new generation Countdown supermarkets, the Manukau store features sustainable design initiatives such as increased use of natural light and energy efficient building management systems. To curb energy consumption from refrigeration and freezer units, the store has introduced energy efficient refrigeration cabinets with new more environmentally friendly refrigerant gases.

Edlay said the green design philosophy had extended to the basement car park where 11 JetVent impulse jet fans from Fantech had been installed. The 50N units are controlled by a gas detection system that ensures carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and fumes from vehicles are controlled and extracted appropriately.

The JetVent fans were selected in conjunction with the Mechanical Consultant, Thurston Consulting. Fantech NZ Technical manager Nigel McQueen said energy efficiency had been a major objective when deciding what fan to use. “Our selection was also governed by the design of the support floor, a stressed diaphragm construction which did not incorporate support beams,” he said.

The Countdown car park is a ‘semi-open’ design that has multiple openings in the outer walls. “The JetVent system works on well-proven tunnel principles and is able to use these openings to ensure a constant movement of air without the need for ventilation shafts,” Nigel said. “A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis confirmed the most appropriate location for each of the 11 fans which draw air in via the North side of the car park and push it out via the South side.”

Ceiling height is often restricted in a car park, and although the Countdown basement car park is 2.7m high, the designers did not want to clutter it with ductwork typically associated with traditional car park ventilation.

“The very low profile housing of the JIU series of JetVent fans makes them ideal for general car park ventilation. Furthermore, because an extensive ductwork system is not needed, the result is an aesthetically pleasing, clean car park ceiling and reduced installation costs,” Nigel said. “The entire car parking area appears more spacious, and with the absence of ventilation shafts designers have been able to maximise the number of car park spaces to 319.”

Edlay said Fantech had played a major role in the HVAC requirements of the complex. “In addition to the carpark fans, Fantech supplied a number of products for general ventilation in the Countdown store, mall, retail areas, amenities and toilets.”