Nick Hopper, Monodraught’s Head of Design, has been appointed a full Board member of Monodraught. Some 85 members of staff gathered together at the Crowne Plaza in Marlow to celebrate Nick’s appointment. Nick joined the company just over 12 years ago in 1996, after obtaining his Degree in Product Design at Southampton University, originally as a CAD Draughtsman but since 2005, he has been Head of Design and responsible for the development of Monodraught’s new solar driven products, including Sola-vent and Sola-boost.

Three new products, Sola-Phase, Sola-Cool, and Cool-Phase, have also been developed by Nick in conjunction with The Carbon Trust, DTI Grants, and Nottingham University. Nick has also maintained important links with Brunel and Reading University and has recently launched a new KTP Scheme with Reading University to develop a new solar driven cooling device.

Nick celebrated his marriage to Shelley in the summer of 2005 and they now have a bouncing baby boy, Daniel, who is only 19 months old, but still hopes to follow his father’s footsteps! Nick will continue in his position as Head of Design but will now take on special responsibilities for innovation and solar developments.

On Friday, 23rd January, Monodraught’s staff received an unexpected surprise with a gift from the Directors of VKR to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the Founder of VKR, Villum Kann-Rasmussen, who founded the VELUX empire. VELUX is short for Ventilation and Light (ie. Lux) and VKR is, of course, Villum’s initials.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion, each member of staff was presented individually with a Canon IXUS 8015 8 megapixel camera, a bound 300 page photographic album, and the opportunity to win a further bonus prize for the first 500 photo images to be posted on VKR’s website and it was with some excitement that Emma Thorne, who works in our Sales Office, submitted her photo for consideration and was told that she was the very first person out of the 500 to enter the competition, so she won one of the coveted prizes!

VKR employ a total of some 16,000 people in more than 40 Sales Offices worldwide and Monodraught are spearheading the natural ventilation development through their roof mounted, top down, natural ventilation systems.

We have recently established a new Sales Office in Romania, following the successes of quite a number of Contracts under the direction of Cosmin Ticleanu. 

A number of Contracts have been completed for the Transilvania University of Brasov where various SunPipes and Monovents are used for research purposes and for introducing advanced building technologies to students of the Faculty of Constructions.

Recently Autoliv Romania, which is a Division of Autoliv Inc – worldwide leader in automotive safety – have installed 34N° SunPipes, 3N° Monovents, and 8N° Windcatchers of various sizes on a major development at their headquarters in the city of Brasov.  The firm say they are very happy with the comfortable ambience produced by the natural lighting and ventilation systems and energy savings are becoming more and more obvious as they do not need to run electric lighting during daytime working hours.  The iNVent automatic controls allow users to feel comfortably and pleasantly relaxed without any efforts of opening the windows or turn on the air conditioning, as it was the case before installing the Windcatchers. The great success of these systems made possible the continuation of this project for other spaces of the Autoliv plant in Brasov, where in the following months Windcatchers are to be installed in several production spaces.

The Citroën representative in Bucharest also chose to use the SunPipe natural lighting systems for the interior spaces within their new Showroom in Baneasa commercial area.

New projects are expected to be completed in 2009 throughout Romania due to continuously increasing interest in energy savings and comfort that can be achieved by the use of SunPipes and Windcatchers.

For Easertn European enquires please contact Cosmin Ticleanu on
Tel: +40 722 563 439 or E-mail: office@naturalight.ro

Monodraught are delighted to announce that they have opened a new Sales Office in Sydney, Australia under the direction of John Brodie of VIM Sustainability Pty Ltd.  John has many years’ experience in sustainable development and is very keen to promote Sales of Monodraught products in both Australia and New Zealand.  Monodraught’s first major Project to be specified is the Edithvale Seaford Wetlands Discovery Centre in Melbourne, where Monodraught Windcatchers, Sola-boosts, and Monovent Suncatchers are being specified, together with a number of Care Homes in Eastern Australia, where Monodraught Windcatchers are being specified for all the day care areas.  Considerable interest has also been shown by New Zealand, since they have a very similar climatic condition to the UK and since Monodraught Windcatchers have been such a success in England, they are likely to be equally successful in New Zealand and many parts of Australia.

The larger 750mm diameter SunPipes are also creating quite a stir in Australia, since although flexible SunPipes have been used for many years, Monodraught are the first to provide a 750mm diameter system.  As always, Monodraught’s Design Engineers are always very ready to provide a full design package and with the advantage of e-mails these days, designing a Project whether it be in Melbourne or Milton Keynes really makes no difference!  Monodraught products are destined to have a great future in Australia.

Such is the worldwide demand now for energy-saving initiatives, Monodraught has opened their new Sales Office in St Lucia to serve the Caribbean.  Known as the Windward Isles, Monodraught’s Windcatcher is ideally suited to such applications.  Monodraught’s Managing Director, Professor Terry Payne, commented, “Our strapline has always been ‘putting the wind and sun to work’ and in St Lucia, they have plenty of both! 

There are many beautiful private villas in St Lucia but as with everywhere else in the world, people are amazed at the escalating costs of energy necessary for air conditioning systems.  We have previously installed Windcatchers in Barbados with great success but now not only can we make maximum use of the wind, but our Sola-boost systems, which incorporate a solar panel for energy-free fan driven operation, provide the perfect combination.”  SunPipes are also proving most popular since as with many other parts of the world, window blinds are often kept fully closed to keep out the intense sunlight but SunPipes can flood the interior of the property with natural light – but without any heat gains! 

SunPipes and Windcatchers can be fitted to new build properties but can also be retrofitted to existing properties with the minimum of disturbance to the roof coverings.  Both Windcatchers and SunPipes have proved themselves to be ‘hurricane-proof’ from the many installations already carried out.

Since Monodraught opened its office in St Lucia in the West Indies, a number of Projects have now been specified with Monodraught Sola-boost Windcatchers and indeed, Sola-boost systems have already been installed on two large Villa Projects.  Monodraught Windcatchers have already previously been installed at Bridgetown, Barbados in 2003 and are considered ideal for the West Indies, since they capture the constant offshore wind, but this ventilation air is boosted by the energy-free      Sola-boost, which is particularly effective on those few days when there is no wind but high external temperatures.  St Lucia is particularly fortunate since it enjoys temperatures of between 27°C and 30°C throughout the year. 

Nevertheless, there is growing concern at the amount of energy used on air conditioning systems and the ever spiralling costs of energy has made the Sola-boost Windcatcher a very desirable ventilation system.  With the global recession now biting hard, every country is looking at how to reduce its energy consumption but also, to ensure it can deal with the much talked about global warming situation. 

Sola-boost Windcatchers have proved themselves highly reliable and popular in the UK, so it is only inevitable that their popularity would soon spread to other countries!  Interest has also been shown from other Windward Isles, and it is no secret that President Obama has said that he will be looking closely at all ‘green’ energy issues for the future in the USA.

The Royal St Lucian Golf Club has recently completed its second Project to install SunPipes, this time in central corridors, so as to eliminate the need for electric lighting during daytime use.  The first Contract was for internal toilets and stairwells, etc., but the Management were so impressed with the performance that SunPipes were extended to other parts of the Club House.  Commenting on the Contract, Professor Terry Payne, Managing Director of Monodraught, says “SunPipes are now proving very popular in the West Indies following the opening of our office in St Lucia, since these islands are no different to everywhere else in the world.  They are all looking to reduce their energy consumption!  Suncatchers, Sola-vents, and Sola-boosts are also being installed, following early Specifications, so we are delighted that we can make a contribution to the island’s economy, as well as to the pleasure of visitors to the island.” 

SunPipes are available in a wide range of 10 different sizes from stock but the five most popular sizes, including the new 750mm diameter size, are all produced with the unique Diamond dome that captures more daylight than other hemispherical domes.

After many months of planning, Monodraught has published a new 40-page brochure specifically devoted to Schools.  The brochure was originally designed as an informative look at the Regulations, particularly BB101, which is the ventilation requirements for Schools, but it was rapidly recognised that there are no less than 14 Rules, Regulations, and Guidance documents, that have been published, all concerning the development of Schools.  Monodraught decided, therefore, to put together a comprehensive booklet explaining the function and relationship to one another.  A detailed description is therefore given on CABE, BREEAM, BB 93, BB 101, BB 87, BB 95, and other relevant documents. 

The 40-page booklet is designed to guide the Specifier through the tangled web of these requirements but has been put together with the valuable assistance of Dr Martin Liddament of VEETECH but also with input from Reading University and other associated bodies.

To view a copy of our New Schools e-brochure please CLICK HERE