Virgin Active Gyms are opening new facilities across Australia and Asia and they are keen to provide an energy efficient and unobtrusive gym cooling solution for the users of their gymnasiums and exercise centres.
Their flagship facility is located at Barangaroo, by the Sydney waterfront, and provides a range of exercise opportunities including cycling, yoga, boxing, weight rooms, and numerous other exercise configurations.ial and bespoke signage for a wide range of clients.
Pittwater House School’s Facilities Manager needed to improve air circulation and thermal comfort in ‘The Great Hall’, which suffered from poor airflow circulation. Built in the 1980s, its ineffective air extraction system caused uncomfortable conditions year-round.
In winter, warm air accumulated at ceiling level, leaving floor level cold despite heating. In summer, heat buildup created discomfort for students, staff, and visitors. Any solution had to be quiet, discreet, and energy-efficient while preserving architectural aesthetics.
Existing options—plant-based systems, split air conditioning and large bladed fans—were unsuitable due to high costs, inefficiency, strobing or visual disruption. As such, the school needed an unobtrusive, cost-effective, low-energy solution for year-round comfort.
The Airius gym cooling solution offers both ceiling and roof mounted options and the request from Virgin for the fans to be black was easily fulfilled by Airius.
Virgin Active and DSA are so thrilled by the results that they have subsequently installed the Airius fans into two more Virgin Active facilities; Market St. and Bridge St. in the Sydney CBD.
Their unique look, small size, large amount of air movement, full BMS control capability and very low 30 Watt power consumption has worked in perfectly with the Virgin Active design brief.
“Airius destratification fans were installed after some consultation works with the Carbon Trust. The installation of these fans is simple. The effectiveness is felt immediately. We were able to reduce the running times of our warm air heating system dramatically yet still retain a comfortable environment for staff and customers. A worthwhile investment!”
Download the PDF version of the Gym Cooling: Virgin Active case study.
