Renovation of 53-apartment building in Milan for a total of 6500 m2 while maintaining radiators

The use of heat pump technology improved the building's energy efficiency, despite the basic insulation done in 2000.

The building and the challenge

Located in the centre of Milan, the 1960s building consists of 53 flats covering a total of 6500 m2. The building had undergone an initial complete renovation in 2000, which also involved the building envelope. Heating was provided by two traditional boilers for heating and domestic hot water and two chillers for summer cooling. The distribution of heat and cold was done with radiators and room terminals, respectively.

In 2023, it was decided to improve the building's energy performance by intervening on the air conditioning system, but with the need to maintain the present distribution system.

The solution

The two boilers were replaced with 2 high-efficiency heat pumps with inverter technology and ecological refrigerant R32 Sheen EVO 2.0 and 2 condensing boilers of 200 kW, which are used as back-up and integration in situations where high temperature water is required. The heat pumps can also be used as a back-up to the chiller in peak cooling demand.

To replace the 2 old chillers, a high-efficiency chiller Mangnum WSAT-XEM was installed.
It was also decided to equip the condominium with a 40 kW photovoltaic system connected to the Clivet Sinergy storage system to cover the domestic utilities.

Results

The heat pump system has proved to be an excellent solution for improving the building's energy efficiency, even in combination with a building envelope that is not particularly performing and maintaining the old heating and cooling distribution system, allowing the energy efficiency class of the building to be increased and indoor comfort costs to be reduced.

Clivet's INTELLIPLANT Building Management System, which coordinates the entire heating and cooling plant, activating the plant resources according to the thermal demand received from the individual flats and always activating the most efficient resource, has made it possible to operate the heat pumps in conjunction with the gas boilers, thus providing a perfectly reliable and efficient hybrid system.

Intelliplant also makes it possible to maximise the total performance of the system by making the units work at their maximum efficiency and also allows the customer to monitor thermal, cooling and electrical consumption locally and by remote. 

The protagonists

Installation: Pentagas 
Agency: Pieracci
Designer: Studio Planning, Milan

Installed units

2 Sheen EVO 2.0 heat pumps 
2 200 kW boilers 
1 Magnum WSAT-XEM chiller 
1 INTELLIPLANT management and monitoring system
1 Sinergy 40 kW energy storage and inverter