Condair humidify the Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall, UK

Project details

Industries

Musical instruments, Concert halls and organs

Technologies

Resistive steam humidification

Condair humidify the Royal Albert Hall's organ

Condair has supplied a resistive steam humidifier to humidify the Organ Chamber at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The Organ is one of the most important instruments of its kind in the world standing at over 70ft tall and weighing in at 150 tonnes.

The installation is part of a major refurbishment of the Organ, designed by Father Willis in 1866. Since 2002, the soundboards, casework and all 9,755 pipes have been either replaced or restored and an additional 244 pipes added. The Organ can now re-claim its position as the largest in the UK.

MJN Colston, the M&E Contractor for the project, commented, “We needed to install a humidifier in order to protect the Organ’s wood from drying out, causing it to crack. The humidifier’s steam lance is situated in the blowing chamber, feeding air through into the Organ itself, maintaining the optimum humidity level of 55%rh.”

The humidifier installed at the Royal Albert Hall delivers up to 10kg of steam into the atmosphere per hour. When used with demineralised water it can control humidity to within +/-1%RH and requires very little maintenance.

MJN Colston

“We needed to install a humidifier in order to protect the Organ’s wood from drying out, causing it to crack. The humidifier’s steam lance is situated in the blowing chamber, feeding air through into the Organ itself, maintaining the optimum humidity level of 55%rh.”

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Condair in action

Projects and references

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The Glasshouse International Centre for Music is a concert and event center in Gateshead, England, and home to the Royal Northern Sinfonia ensemble and the Academy of Music and Sound. It has three performance halls that seat 1,700, 400 and 200 people respectively.

Condair gas-fired steam humidifiers ensure the optimum atmosphere to preserve the wooden interior and musical instruments, as well as creating a healthy and comfortable room air humidity in the halls.

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, Australia, identified as one of the 20th century's most distinctive buildings. Though its name suggests a single venue, the building comprises multiple performance venues which together are among the busiest of performing arts centres &ndash hosting well over 1,500 performances annually, attended by more than 1.2 million people.Condair evaporative and steam humidifiers are helping to maintain the ideal indoor environment, to preserve the integrity of the wooden interiors, the musical instruments, the vocal performance of the artists and the health of the public.

Opera House, Sydney - Australia

Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg - Germany

In January 2017, the Elbphilharmonie (or Elbe Philharmonic Hall) was officially opened after about ten years of construction work. Its unique glass facade, which plays on visual associations with sails and ocean waves, has already established itself as a new landmark of the Hanseatic City of Hamburg. Inside the Elbphilharmonie™s main concert hall, specially-designed and individually-carved wall and ceiling elements provide incredibly precise sound diffusion and perfect acoustics.

The main hall has 2,100 seats in total, and each seat is individually supplied with fresh air. Condair DL hybrid humidifiers ensure comfort for visitors and optimal acoustic conditions for the orchestra.

Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg - Germany

Steinway & Sons showroom, UK

Steinway & Sons has been renowned for producing the finest pianos since 1853. Passion and commitment, perfection and quality, reliability and “ of course “ an inimitable sound are just some of the characteristics people all over the world associate with these high-quality instruments. The impressive showroom in London Marylebone was recently refurbished. Condair™s steam humidifiers are playing a vital role in maintaining the exceptional craftsmanship involved in the production of Steinway™s famous pianos.

Condair in tune with Steinway

Quotes from our customers

Steinway & Sons, UK

Craig Terry

Managing Director

Incredibly rare and expensive wood is used in some of our models – but actually any type of wood is susceptible to changes in environmental conditions. Dryness is the enemy of pianos so humidity is really important. We need 40% to 50% humidity all the time to protect the wood, whether they’re in the showroom or the workshop. Condair’s units are ideal for the job.

And because we rely so heavily on the reliability of the humidifiers, we also contracted with Condair to service the humidifiers at regular intervals. Would I recommend Condair? Oh yes, they’ve supplied great service.

Opera North, UK

Richard Ashton

General Manager

The orchestra spends over 20 hours a week rehearsing and performing here, so it was essential to provide a consistent level of humidity during the times when they use the space. After meeting with Condair, we felt confident that the company understood our specialised requirement, not just the level of humidity, but also the need for reliability, flexibility and cost effectiveness.

Since installing humidification, which we switch on as and when required, our musicians have felt much more at ease regarding the safety and performance of their instruments.

Christ’s Hospital School, UK

Peter Dutton

School organist

Condair clearly had experience in working with such ancient and delicate organs and was quickly able to propose the most suitable model, as well as its positioning for installation.

It has made a real difference in keeping the humidification in the organ chamber stable and we are now able to play the organ whatever the weather is like outside; even during the cold, dry conditions of last winter.