Our second project was completed in 2006, the Philiastides Commercial Centre located opposite the Larnaca fire station is made up of four individual retail / commercial units. This was a far more challenging design because the main elevation is west facing. To limit the solar gain low emissivity glazing was imported from Belgium and used on all the main elevations. Thermal insulation was applied on top of the damp proof membrane at roof level. Concrete paving slabs were placed directly above the thermal insulation using plastic spacers to produce a 10mm ventilated air cavity between the thermal insulation and the paving slabs.

At mezzanine level electrically operated windows were installed to allow the internal space of the showrooms to be naturally ventilated. Recently a 10.5 kW PV system has been installed on the roof of one of the shops. The result is that this unit now has a “net zero energy” balance.

A 5KW photovoltaic system was installed on the roof in 2007. It was one of the first PV systems to be installed on a building in Larnaca. The electricity generated is fed directly into the EAC grid. This was a test project to monitor the performance of a small PV installation and determine the long-term performance.