The Signs Workshop at Balnacoul in Moray is run by the Forestry Commission Scotland to manufacture wooden signs for their estates throughout the country. An existing biomass air heater serving the premises no longer worked and there were operability issues with the sawdust extraction systems that were in place. A lack of heat recovery within the existing air extraction systems was leading to wasted energy.
We were tasked with a detailed survey of the existing air heating system and sawdust extraction systems. We had to consider relevant improvements and to specify the requirements of a replacement scheme. The areas covered by the survey were the routing workshop, sanding workshop, painting workshop, the timber store and the external plant. The workshop remained in operation throughout the survey visit.
We recorded our findings in a detailed survey report and then developed an options paper to present the feasibility of various replacement solutions. After agreeing recommendations with the client team, we specified the chosen system replacement to be taken forward with the FCS team.