Delivering commercial air testing to confirm exceptional airtightness across a large-scale refrigerated distribution centre.
Project Overview
- Client: Colsec Ltd
- Sector: Commercial / Industrial (Cold Storage & Distribution)
- Location: Leeds
- Services Provided: Commercial Air Tightness Testing
- Scale: 2,987.8 m² building envelope
- Target: Part L2 compliance – design target of ≤3 m³/hr/m² @50Pa
The Challenge
In a large, refrigerated distribution centre, temperature control lives or dies on airtightness. Any leakage through the building envelope forces the cooling systems to work harder, driving up both energy consumption and running costs – and on a building this size, even small leakage rates translate into meaningful ongoing expense. To comply with Part L2 of the Building Regulations, Colsec needed the completed facility to meet a strict air permeability target, verified through independent, standards-compliant testing rather than assumption.
The Solution
Commercial Air Tightness Testing
Our Head of Testing, Ryan Jones, carried out a commercial air tightness test on the completed building in accordance with the ATTMA TSL1 standard – the appropriate method for large, non-simple buildings like this one. Using calibrated multi-fan blower door equipment, we pressurised the entire 2,987.8 m² building envelope to accurately measure the true rate of air leakage across the whole structure, rather than relying on a sample area.
The Outcome
The distribution centre passed with an outstanding air permeability of 1.3 m³/hr/m² @50Pa – nearly three times better than the ≤3 m³/hr/m² design target set by Part L2. A Coefficient of Determination (r²) of 0.992 confirmed the result was not just strong but genuinely robust and reliable. The result speaks to the quality of the underlying construction: Colsec’s building is not just compliant, but positioned to benefit from real energy efficiency and lower running costs for the lifetime of the facility.
