HEALTHCARE Climate Solutions for Healthcare Applications
CLIMATE SOLUTIONS IN HEALTHCARE
In healthcare settings, climate consistency requires to be part of the clinical infrastructure. Patients recovering from illness or surgery, staff working long shifts, and sensitive equipment all depend on a stable, well-managed indoor climate. Yet hospital and clinic entrances, reception areas and treatment-room doorways are among the busiest thresholds in any building, opened constantly by patients, visitors, trolleys and emergency traffic. Research reviewing HVAC use on hospital wards found that supporting stable thermal conditions was associated with improved vital signs, reduced cardiac stress, faster recuperation and even shorter length of stay for patients with respiratory disease. Hospitals are also significant energy consumers: NHS trusts in England reported total energy usage of 11.3 billion kWh across the estate in 2024/25, at a total running cost of approximately £14bn, driven largely by round-the-clock heating, cooling and ventilation demand.
22 - 27°C
11.3bn kWh
Total annual energy consumption across the NHS estate in England
Typical controlled temperature range for clinical and diagnostic areas
HEALTHCARE| INTRODUCTION
CLIMATE CHALLENGES ACROSS THE HEALTHCARE ENVELOPE Climate control in healthcare is rarely just a doorway problem. From the entrance lobby through to wards, corridors, consulting rooms and back-of-house plant areas, every zone in a healthcare building carries its own thermal demands — and every uncontrolled gap between them, whether that's an open door, a draughty corridor junction or a poorly regulated room, adds cost, discomfort or clinical risk somewhere in the building. Five interlinked pressures define climate control across a healthcare estate. Biddle addresses each of them with a different part of the same product family — from air curtains holding the line at entrances, to fan coil units giving individual rooms their own climate.
ENERGY COSTS & NET ZERO PRESSURE With NHS trusts in England reporting 11.3 billion kWh of energy use across the estate in 2024/25, uncontrolled climate loss — whether at doorways, in over- heated corridors or in rooms without individual control — is a cost that compounds every hour of every day. NHS estates are under sustained pressure to reduce energy use and emissions in line with net zero commitments and ERIC reporting requirements.
ENTRANCES & THRESHOLDS
Reception areas, A&E entrances and ambulance bays are opened constantly by patients, visitors, trolleys and emergency traffic. Every opening lets outdoor air mix with the carefully managed internal climate, and conventional fixes carry a cost in comfort, energy or accessibility.
HYGIENE & INFECTION CONTROL
CORRIDORS & CIRCULATION SPACES
Ventilation in healthcare buildings is treated as clinical infrastructure, not just comfort engineering. HTM 03-01 sets out airflow, pressure and temperature requirements designed to support infection control across clinical areas. Uncontrolled air movement anywhere in the building can work against carefully designed pressure regimes in adjoining spaces.
Long corridors, stairwells and junctions between wings create their own draughts and temperature gradients, particularly where they connect zones or link to external doors. Staff and patients moving through these spaces throughout the day are repeatedly exposed to hot or cold spots that a single building- wide setting can't resolve.
When warmer, humid air enters the cold space, water vapour condenses and freezes; on floors, racking, door hardware, and evaporator coils. Frosted coils cannot transfer heat efficiently, causing refrigeration system to run more frequent defrost cycles. Each defrost cycle allows the internal temperature to rise, forcing systems to work harder once the defrost halts. More moisture ingress means more frost, more defrosts, longer compressor run-times and greater mechanical wear. PATIENT ROOMS, WARDS & CONSULTING SPACES
HEALTHCARE| INTRODUCTION
HEALTHCARE | INTRODUCTION
BIDDLE TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENT, AUTOMATIC CONTROL Conditions at a hospital or clinic entrance change constantly — footfall, weather, and heating or cooling demand all shift throughout the day. Biddle's automatic controls, including i- Sense infrared temperature monitoring and CHIPS technology, continuously read the temperature difference across the doorway and adjust fan speed and discharge in real time, so the air curtain always runs at the optimum setting. Once commissioned, staff never need to touch the settings — an important benefit in a busy clinical environment where estates teams have limited time for manual adjustment.
PATENTED RECTIFIER TECHNOLOGY
A conventional air curtain without a rectifier discharges turbulent air that dissipates before reaching the floor, leaving the lower half of the doorway exposed to draughts and infiltration. Biddle's patented rectifier technology streamlines the discharge into a laminar, deeply-penetrating air stream that covers the full height of the opening — holding the climate line without a single
Without Rectifier
Turbulent Flow
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With Rectifier
Laminar Flow
physical obstruction to trolleys, wheelchairs or stretchers.
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REMOTE MONITORING & BMS INTEGRATION
up to 40%
Biddle comfort air curtains connect to the building management system via Modbus as standard, with b-touch controls and B-Connect monitoring, allowing estates teams to track performance and temperature data centrally — supporting the kind of documented, auditable environmental control that healthcare compliance increasingly expects.
Increase in air-jet throw delivered by Biddle's patented rectifier vs. an equivalent unit without one
HEALTHCARE | TECHNOLOGY
HEALTHCARE| TECHNOLOGY
SR COMFORT AIR CURTAIN
Biddle's flagship unit, and the specification of choice for demanding healthcare environments such as main entrances, A&E and ambulance bays. Packed with technology as standard, including patented i-Sense infrared temperature monitoring, the SR constantly measures internal and outside temperature and makes real-time adjustments to the exiting airflow — maintaining performance while keeping running time and running costs to a minimum. It also creates a barrier that helps prevent insects entering during warmer months, without blocking access for people.
up to 75%
AIR CURTAIN SOLUTIONS
CLIMATE SEPARATION
Air curtains are often thought of as an entrance product, but across a healthcare estate their role is broader than the front door. The same principle of an invisible, laminar stream of air holding two climates apart without blocking access applies wherever two different environments meet.
Used well, a comfort air curtain delivers benefit across several fronts:
STAFF WELLBEING
VISITOR EXPERIENCE
I-SENSE INFRARED TECHNOLOGY MEASURES DOORWAY TEMPERATURE COMPATIBLE WITH HEAT PUMPS AND BIDDLE AIR2AIR HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEMS
CHIPS SELF- REGULATING CONTROLLED AIR STRENGTH PLUG-AND-PLAY INSTALLATION, B- TOUCH CONTROL PANEL, MODBUS AS STANDARD
A warm, draught-free reception sets the tone for a visit at an already stressful time, while keeping the doorway completely clear for trolleys, wheelchairs and stretchers.
A well-specified air curtain removes the repeated draughts and temperature swings that come with every door opening, supporting comfort and concentration across a shift. ENERGY EFFICIENCY & NET ZERO Automatic, sensor-led control means units only work as hard as conditions demand, cutting heating and cooling run-time in line with NHS net zero and ERIC reporting.
HYGEINE & INFECTION CONTROL By holding a stable climate at any threshold, air curtains reduce uncontrolled air movement that otherwise work against the pressure regimes HTM 03-01 sets out.
HEALTHCARE | AIR CURTAINS
HEALTHCARE | AIR CURTAINS
CITY COMFORT AIR CURTAIN
DOORFLOW COMFORT AIR CURTAIN 2
A high-performance, lower-cost option well suited to smaller clinics, outpatient facilities and satellite healthcare buildings, where a full-specification flagship unit isn't required but effective, reliable climate separation still is. The patented rectifier delivers significant climate separation efficiency while keeping installation straightforward.
A minimalist, low-maintenance unit suited to busy corridors and secondary entrances across a healthcare campus such as internal doorways between departments, staff entrances and back-of- house access points, where reliable long-term performance with minimal upkeep is a priority.
AIRFLOW SPANS THE FULL WIDTH OF THE ENTRANCE, PREVENTING BYPASS
UP TO 80% CLIMATE SEPARATION FROM THE RECTIFIER GRILLE
FILTER-FREE, LOW- MAINTENANCE DESIGN AND BMS- READY
PATENTED RECTIFIER FOR SMOOTH, LOW- TURBULENCE AIRFLOW
SIMPLE TOUCHPAD CONTROL; OPTIONAL DOOR CONTACT SWITCH AND ROOM THERMOSTAT
PURPOSE-DESIGNED COIL/HEATER BATTERY REDUCES DUST AND DEBRIS BUILD-UP
HEALTHCARE | AIR CURTAINS
HEALTHCARE | AIR CURTAINS
PROAIR FAN COIL UNITS
as low as NR30
Where patient comfort, indoor air quality and energy efficiency all matter equally, the ProAir Series fan coil units provide a reliable, quiet and flexible HVAC solution for wards, waiting rooms, offices and clinical spaces across a healthcare site. Suitable for both new build and refurbishment projects, ProAir gives estates teams a tailored climate solution for individual rooms without compromising on acoustic comfort
FAN COIL UNITS
Biddle's fan coil units give healthcare estates room-level control, heating, cooling and ventilating individual spaces independently of the wider building system. Rather than a single setting across an entire wing, each room can be tuned to what the people using it need. Ideal in clinical settings where multiple facets all depend on stable, well-managed local climates.
FLEXIBLE DESIGN
Depth sizes of 235 & 270mm allow for flexible installation Wide range of sizes and performance options for climate tailoring Options for RAL colouring to match ward and clinical interiors
PATIENT REST & RECOVERY
ROOM-BY-ROOM COMFORT
Every space has different occupancy and heat gain. Biddle fan coil units let each room be tuned independently, rather than the whole wing.
Internally lined, low-noise casings and EC motors mean heating and cooling can run continuously without disturbing rest of recovering patients.
QUIET AND EFFICIENT OPERATION Internally lined casing creates low noise levels – NR30 High-efficiency EC motors running at low energy Optional acoustic inlet extension for ultra-quiet environments
HYGEINE & INFECTION CONTROL Removable, washable filters and easy-access components support fast, thorough cleaning as part of routine ward infection-control practices, without specialist tools or lengthy downtime.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY & NET ZERO High-efficiency EC motors and precise, room-level control mean units only run as hard as each space actually needs, cutting wasted heating and cooling in line with NHS net zero and ERIC reporting.
BUILT FOR THE NHS
Designed for continuous operation with minimal maintenance PIC valves available factory-fitted for simpler commissioning/installation TM65 data available upon request
HEALTHCARE | FAN COIL UNITS
HEALTHCARE | FAN COIL UNITS
CASE STUDY TEES, ESK AND WEAR VALLEYS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
DECO FAN COIL UNITS
North Moor House provides modern outpatient facilities for people in and around Northallerton who need to access mental health and learning disability services.
Biddle was approached to provide an energy-efficient, cost-effective solution that would allow patients, employees and visitors to freely attend North Moor House, while keeping reception areas warm and welcoming.
Biddle DECO fan coil unit gives occupants direct control over temperature and fresh air, room by room. The patented Multi- Vector Technology is made up of stacked, hole-patterned sheets that let occupants direct airflow. Air is discharged differently depending on whether the room is being heated or cooled, giving comfort on command in individual patient rooms and consulting spaces, without draughts landing directly on the bed or desk.
SOLUTION
Biddle specified two SR intelligent comfort air curtains for the site's entrances. The SR forces airflow down across the open doorway to create an invisible barrier, so even when the doors are open, the indoor climate remains unaffected. Both units were installed above the doorways with b-touch controls and connected to the building's management system for remote monitoring
RANGE FOR ALL SPACES
Range of 5 sizes covering airflow rates from 140 to 1,800m /h 3 Wall or ceiling mounted with fully recessed options Stylish or Business casing styles in white or titanium as standard
CONCLUSION During commissioning, thermal imaging clearly showed the IndAC2 creating a barrier that prevented heat transfer across the threshold; holding the freezer at −18.2°C against −3.0°C in the adjacent chiller room. The installation delivered elimination of visible condensation plumes, improved energy efficiency through reduced cold-air loss, enhanced staff safety around the entrance, and maintained storage temperatures for food quality and compliance.
LOW MAINTENANCE, EASY USE Removable G2 filter with rapid replacement Plug-and-play airside or combined air/waterside controllers
FRESH AIR VENTILATION
Heating, cooling, and fresh air ventilation within a single unit Weekly timer and optional CO sensor for automatic, demand-led fresh air control 2
HEALTHCARE | CASE STUDY
HEALTHCARE | FAN COIL UNITS
BIDDLE CLIMATE CONTROL SOLUTIONS Every healthcare site is different. Biddle's team carries out a site survey to capture operational requirements and physical conditions, then designs a climate-separation and comfort solution tailored to entrances, room use and traffic across the estate.
SUPPORTING REGULATION Healthcare operators carry overlapping duties across ventilation standards, patient safety, workplace health and energy efficiency. Climate separation supports compliance on every front.
Requirement
What It Means
How Biddle Helps
Defines airflow, temperature and humidity control appropriate to each clinical area, and treats ventilation as clinical infrastructure supporting infection control Providers must maintain a safe, clean, comfortable environment for all occupants Employers must provide a safe working environment, including thermal comfort for staff on long shifts NHS organisations must reduce estate energy consumption and report annually via ERIC
Stable, well-managed entrance and internal climates support the wider ventilation strategy and help protect controlled conditions in adjoining spaces Draught-free, temperature- stable entrances and public areas support a consistently comfortable patient experience Reducing cold draughts and hot/cold zoning at areas where staff spend extended periods Automatic, sensor-led control reduces unnecessary heating/cooling run-time, cutting energy use
HTM 03-01 (Specialised Ventilation for Healthcare Premises, NHS England, 2021)
COMFORT AIR CURTAINS
SR AIR CURTAIN
CQC fundamental standards & Health and Social Care Act 2008
Biddle's flagship unit holds climate at demanding main entrances, A&E and ambulance bays, using i-Sense infrared monitoring to maintain a stable, welcoming environment while keeping doorways fully clear for trolleys and stretchers
Cost-effective climate separation for smaller clinics, internal corridors and secondary entrances, holding stable conditions between departments without the specification demands of a main-entrance unit
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
NHS Net Zero / ERIC energy reporting
Note: Biddle products support compliance by stabilising the indoor environment; they are not a substitute for a complete infection-control, ventilation or building-management strategy. Specific duties vary by nation (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and by facility type WHY BIDDLE SOLUTIONS?
PROAIR FAN COIL UNITS Quiet, NR30-rated heating and cooling for wards, waiting rooms and clinical spaces, giving estates teams reliable, room-by-room comfort control that protects patient rest without compromising acoustic conditions on site
DECO FAN COIL UNITS
Room-by-room comfort for patient bedrooms and consulting rooms, directing airflow precisely with Multi- Vector Technology while providing built-in fresh air ventilation through in-built CO sensor switches 2
COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO MEET SPECIFIC CLINICAL AND OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS EXPERTISE ACROSS HYGIENE, NOISE, AND INDIVIDUAL CLIMATE CONTROL
APPLICATION-BASED ENGINEERING TO TAILOR CLIMATE CONTROL SOLUTIONS WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCTS TO SUPPORT COVERING MULTIPLE FACETS WITHIN HEALTHCARE ESTATES
HEALTHCARE | CLIMATE CONTROL SOLUTIONS
HEALTHCARE | REGULATION
BIDDLE AIR SYSTEMS
St. Mary’s Road Nuneaton Warwickshire CV11 5AU
T 024 7638 4233 E sales@biddle-air.co.uk www.biddle-air.co.uk
Every effort has been made to ensure descriptions are correct at the time of print. Errors and omissions excepted. HEALTHCARE |V 1 |0 9 |202 6
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