McLaren Technology Centre

The McLaren Technology centre re-uses water in a continuous cycle. The water is used to cool the plant, but to make sure the water is pure it undergoes a set of treatments. The Process is detailed below:

• Rainfall onto the buildings roofs and car parks is channelled to the streams and rivers surrounding the centre. This water is cleaned via reed ponds before entering the lake in front of the centre.

• Once the water has passed through the lake it is sent through a number of Biotopes. This is done to remove as many micro-organisms as possible without the use of expensive machinery. (A Biotope can be anything from a fish pond to reed beds, perhaps even a back garden)

• Once the micro-organisms have been removed from the water it is pumped into a filter which removes all the larger particles in the water which Biotopes are unable to do. This is done to prevent damage to the interior of the cooling system The filtration system used is a pressure filter. This type of filter works by forcing the water through a series of membranes at high pressure and collecting the particles. This can remove particles as small as 2000 microns and filter up to 10,000m3 per hour.

• Once the water has been filtered it spends the next hour cycling the plant and removing heat from the industrial areas and a few of the offices. By doing this the need for cooling towers is reduced from 7 to 2. This also results in much lower energy consumption from the building.

• Once the water has circled the plant it is sent outside to a cascade where the water is cooled and aerated. Here it re-enters the streams, rivers and Biotopes at the beginning of the cycle where it is cleaned and filtered once more.