The College of St Mary Magdalene. Cambridge University.

This project required the utilisation of an existing site wide intranet to avoid the physical and financial impact of installing a new network cabling system.

A building management system (BMS) from Priva Building Intelligence is enabling building services equipment communications within the historic College of St Mary Magdalene in Cambridge. The College’s origins date back to the early 15th century when King Henry VI approved the establishment of a hostel for Benedictine monks coming to study Canon Law at the University. Over the centuries the site has grown and today has an eclectic mix of buildings including a new building providing an additional lecture theatre and classrooms.

Central to the new building is a Priva Compri HX8E managing the heating system and providing a direct link to a PM Luft air handling unit (AHU) controller that employs the Modbus protocol. From the outset Priva has promoted an open protocol policy leading to outstanding communications possibilities and compatible with, for example, XML, BACnet, Echelon/LonMark, M-bus, Modbus, and OPC.

Added to this is Priva’s use of IP addressable controllers allowing easy access across an IT network or via wireless communication using a standard web browser.

The Priva TC Vision software is a PC application offering on-site and remote control of the building services, together with graphics, logged graphs, tables, documentation, and reports for easy use by both technical and non-technical people.

“As this was a brand new building and not an extension to an existing building, the decision was taken to run the BMS as a standalone system, although its communications capabilities mean that linking the Priva system into existing controllers is a feasible option. The BMS came on-line approximately a year ago and has proved itself throughout each of the seasons,”