The Hermitage Hotel

The Challenge

The Hermitage offers luxury accommodation to tourists from around the globe. Set against a backdrop of clean, unspoilt scenery at the foot of New Zealand’s highest mountain, the hotel is pivotal to Mount Cook Village’s role as a gateway to the mountains and glaciers of Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.

The mountain landscape is well-known for environmental extremes. In Mount Cook Village, the temperature can soar into the high thirties and night-time temperatures can fall below -10°C. When the Hermitage was renovated a six-storey accommodation wing was constructed. The sixty luxurious rooms offer floor-to-ceiling views of Aoraki (Mount Cook) and it was important to the client that guests be able to enjoy the view in comfort.

The challenge of catering to a world audience is the varying definition of comfort. European tourists like those from Switzerland are conditioned to room temperatures of eighteen or nineteen degrees whereas guests from the Indian subcontinent are more accustomed to warmer temperatures.

Energy efficiency was a top priority for the client. The required system would need to be multi faceted. It needed to allow guests to control the temperature of their own rooms, be economical, and have minimal environmental impact. The efficiency of heat pump technology was recognised but few systems would cope with the icy night-time temperatures.

Finally, being a hotel, sound levels would be a key concern and due to fluctuating occupancy the system would need to cope with varying loads.

The Solution

City Multi R2 outdoor units were chosen for this project. These units can extract heat from air as cold as -20°C, ensuring that guests can enjoy their beautiful surrounds in comfort.

The simple and effective two-pipe architecture and BC controller allow rapid transition between heating and cooling modes. The system can easily cope with even the most dramatic of daily temperature fluctuations.

Control is essential in hotels. Wall controllers were installed in every room, easily adapting to the individual needs of each guest. And, the hotel staff uses a central controller to reduce air conditioning power to unoccupied rooms.

To further address the energy efficiency brief, Mitsubishi Electric’s heat recovery technology transfers heat between rooms, maximising efficiency.

Mitsubishi Electric’s outdoor units are among the quietest in the industry. With its compressor isolated in its own compartment and with the compressor and fan designed for minimum noise, the City Multi indoor units are also very quiet. Providing the ultimate quiet comfort so the guests can enjoy the hotel and the landscape – in peace.

This project was one of the first VRF systems sold in New Zealand to Airtech NZ. To date the system has had zero break downs which is impressive in the harsh conditions Mt Cook offers. This is due to reliable equipment and regular service and maintenance that Airtech offers to this site.