- Edinburgh’s historic Abbey Strand has been modernized into nine luxury serviced apartments featuring advanced ABB’s building automation and energy management systems to enhance energy efficiency.
- Key energy efficiency upgrades including ABB’s energy management solution for remote monitoring, targeting savings of 20%
- The project is now a model of sustainable retrofitting, aligning with Edinburgh's 2030 Climate Strategy for enhanced energy efficiency in buildings.
Once a home for monks and royal courtiers, as well as for debtors on the run from authorities, Edinburgh’s Abbey Strand has a storied past. That colorful history has been brought up to date with an extensive modernization project which features ABB energy management and automation systems at its heart.
Abbey Strand forms part of the Royal Collection Trust properties near the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh – the official residence of the British monarchy in Scotland.
Now renamed Cheval Abbey Strand since redevelopment in 2022, the site comprises nine luxury serviced apartments remodeled by developer Chris Stewart Group (CSG). A key challenge of the redevelopment was improving the energy efficiency of the five-centuries-old building: ABB’s InSite energy management system and ABB i-bus® KNX provided the answer.
CENTRALIZED SOLUTIONS FOR MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY
Each of the apartments has been equipped with the following to promote energy efficiency and cost management:
- Centralized building automation solution: The solution is capable of controlling the lighting and heating through KNX, a global open standard for building automation. The chosen system had to be sufficiently easy to use, while supporting remote monitoring for the service and finance teams.
- Remote monitoring: This allows the building owner to view live data and receive fault notifications from boilers and heat pumps, for example. It also permits detailed monitoring of energy usage across the building, on a customizable dashboard.
- Final Result: Estimated savings of up to 20% have been made at Abbey Strand.
At ABB we are committed to reducing energy usage in buildings. The application of our products is an excellent example of how we can achieve this through retrofittable solutions without disrupting the essence of a building.
Vimal Mohanan, ABB Electrification Product Specialist
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SEAMLESSLY INTEGRATED
Individual apartments are controlled by residents via ABB’s Millenium range of light switches and sockets with smart inserts. Overall building performance can be managed remotely using the ABB ControlTouch® app.
Energy monitoring is handled by ABB’s InSite energy management system, with data sent to the ABB Ability™ Energy Manager for remote visualization of monitoring data. This installation has allowed CSG to monitor Abbey Strand’s energy usage in detail and optimize consumption while forecasting costs against occupancy.
RESULTS
Two years in, the renovation project has proved to be a great success – bringing a historic building in the heart of Edinburgh up to 21st-century luxury living standards, while retaining its traditional character.
It now stands as a valuable showcase for retrofitting sustainable solutions – one perfectly in tune with Edinburgh’s 2030 Climate Strategy, which makes accelerating the energy efficiency of homes and buildings a top priority.
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