Uci cinema alessandria
Comfort for over 250.000 visitors

Built within a vast leisure and entertainment centre, the UCI Cinemas Alessandria multiplex targets a potential pool of over 250,000 users with capacity for 1,300 and a large entertainment area with games and places for eating and drinking.

The challenge

Climate control in the cinema auditoriums and auxiliary areas is a necessary requirement for the promoter of a new multiplex and on this occasion it was a primary need. The international company which was to manage the structure in fact considered the comfort of its audiences as its own key success factor. At the same time the climate control system also had to meet the various standards of safety, hygiene and energy conservation required in these cases.

There was in fact another restriction in the choice of the plant engineering solution. Meeting the schedule was indeed an ambitious goal given the size and complexity of the entire site which required painstaking coordination between the various stages of the work.

The client therefore wanted a rational and effective system which could be built fast and was simple and economical to run.

The complex

Prefabricated two-storey building with surface area of over 7,000 m²
7 screens with 1,300 seats, 1 refreshments area, 1 games room

Uci cinema alessandria
The solution - The climate control system is of the decentralised all-air type

It uses rooftop reversible heat pump monobloc units, also suited to working with low outside air temperatures.

In particular the units serving the auditoriums are designed especially for the climate control of areas with high occupancy. They are therefore able to process large quantities of fresh outside air and also to exploit automatically the low outside temperatures to maintain the required comfort levels in the auditorium without actuating the cooling system, thanks to the Freecooling function.

The integrated CO₂ air quality probe also allowsfurther energy saving in that it reduces the amount of fresh outside air as the number of people in the auditorium decreases.

The units are equipped with a built-in hot water battery with an integration and emergency function in cases where the heat pump circuit does not function properly due to the very low outside temperatures recorded on occasions in this area.

The remaining rooms use rooftop climate control units with reversible heat pump cooling circuit, in this case however selected from among the models designed specifically for average occupancy areas. Air is fed into all areas via high induction diffusers.

The entire system is controlled by the centralised Clivet supervision system which displays information on comfort in the various areas and on the status of the climate control units and system. It also enables each individual unit to be programmed automatically on the basis of the required conditions and the chosen times of operation.

The System

8 rooftop Clivet CSNX-XHE air to air heat pumps with energy recovery for areas with high occupancy, serving the auditoriums.

  • 5 rooftop Clivet CRSN-XHE air to air heat pumps with energy recovery for areas with average occupancy, serving the foyers, games room, common areas and projection room.
  • Clivet P-Matic centralised supervision system.

I risultati

The big party celebrating the opening of the 22nd UCI Cinemas multiplex took place as planned on the scheduled date, attended by those in the industry, the authorities and many people surprised by the public opening only eighteen months after the start of works.

The new building is well integrated within the entertainment centre also thanks to the very low outside noise levels, achieved thanks to the strong sandwich panels and the

external fans with automatic speed control. Regular climate control in the auditoriums, irrespective of external conditions, and the very low noise levels of the

system continue to maintain ideal comfort for screenings to which 3D and digital formats have been added in the space of a few months.

Behind the scenes the centralised supervision system informs projection personnel as to the proper working of the system, thanks to the graphic interface which can also be used by non-specialist staff.

The built-in hot water battery has never been connected to the boilers, thanks to the extended working range of the rooftop heat pumps.

The team

  • Promoter and general contractor: Coopsette, Italy
  • Mechanical systems design by Seti Ingegneria, Italy
  • Systems construction by Busi Impianti, Italy