A cool solution from SE Controls Africa

A natural ventilation solution from SE Controls Africa is keeping shoppers at Maeura Mall in Namibia to keep their cool.

Maeura Mall is Namibia’s largest shopping mall; it is situated in the capital city of Windhoek and has many shops and restaurants and is the only mall in Namibia containing a cinema and a gym. The mall has expanded to over 582,000sq ft, more than double its original size since 2006 due to its popularity. 

SE Controls Africa was able to provide a solution for the mall’s natural ventilation requirements via their NVLogiQ Room Controllers which are designed and developed by the company themselves. The NVLogiQ Room Controllers are able to monitor indoor temperature and CO2 levels and also outside temperatures using external temperature sensors. The controllers are able to interface with the smoke extract fans allowing the warmer air to be extracted from the building leaving a cooler environment for occupants without the need for expensive air conditioning. The natural buoyancy of hot air allows it to be vented at high level, the so called “stack effect”. This is used to great effect in the central atrium of shopping malls to reduce the need to mechanically cool the air using energy intensive air conditioning units. Instead hot air exits through vents at high level and fresh cooler air is introduced at low level. This also increases air movement which provides an additional cooling effect increasing the comfort of the occupants. Such a system saves energy, reduces carbon emissions and can provide a healthier environment. 

Russell Cramb, Business Development Manager for SE Controls Africa explains ‘we worked with Sagger Air Cool and Windhoek Consulting Engineers (WCE) to find the right natural ventilation solution for the client. WCE were able to complete an analytical design of the building and our NVLogiQ system was the perfection solution for cooling the building.” 


SE Controls Africa specialises in the design and supply of advanced smoke ventilation and natural ventilation solutions to meet the needs of architects, contractors, building services engineers and facilities managers worldwide. Further information on SE Controls’ products, solutions and projects can be obtained by visiting http://www.secontrols.co.za or calling +27 (0)31 4661857