Discover our top 5 restaurant tips from the Burger & Lobster, Threadneedle Street project we delivered with installer FWP and manufacturer Panasonic.
There's no "one size fits all" approach with restaurants. It's adapt or fry. Burger & Lobster's Threadneedle st. restaurant needed complete climate control in a BIG space with no impact on the stunning interior, no ceiling fixings and no evidence of the units. To do that, we selected the Panasonic concealed floor standing units meeting the capacity required, and with their small footprint and slim body, remaining completely hidden.
Just like the skyscrapers surrounding Burger & Lobster had to, with no space around, we had to look up & down. With no room outside for the outdoor units, the Panasonic ECOi 2-way units with minimal footprint were mounted vertically in the loading area underneath the restaurant. Normally we would never advise this, because of the air discharged from the bottom unit conflicting with the air intake for the top. However, the ducting provided the answer, as explained by point 3.
TopTips In other cases where space for the outdoors is even tinier, we’ve reprogrammed the chassis units – which we can do to any indoor VRF units – opening up the electronic expansion valve to combine them with PACi outdoors, which have a smaller footprint.
The system installed includes a fan (seen in the top right of the image) that draws the air discharged from the Panasonic ECOi units into the ducting, transports it through the loading area and exhausts it outside. This met all safety requirements, ensured consistently high performance and solved the issue of the lack of space to locate the outdoor units.
Burger & Lobster Threadneedle st. is open from 7am until late in the evening 6 days a week, offering a narrow install window. We consulted with the installer to define the final solution and kept an open dialogue constantly so when the design changed late in the day, we quickly adapted the equipment schedule to ensure the project deadlines were met.
With such limited time on site, having dedicated technical assistance on standby is key. When building schedule's change and the commissioning date moves, we move with it so we're there when we're needed. Similarly, we ensure our engineers are ready to deploy as soon as possible if there's an issue on site, to limit the impact on the client.