A RYEDALE company has carried out an unusual test on Malton School’s new sports hall – by sucking out all the air using large fans.

Ryedale Air Tightness Testing, based in Old Malton, test buildings for their level of air tightness.

Founded three years ago by Nick Simpson and Nick Greenhalgh, the company was established to meet the needs of contractors who must comply with building regulations.

“New buildings have to be tested to show they can achieve a certain level of air tightness,” Nick said.

“A number of studies have shown that heating cost can be reduced by 25 per cent by ensuring buildings are soundly sealed.”

Nick said: “Air tightness testing seeks to identify areas where cold air will enter the building and areas where it might also be lost, in spite of insulation material.

“Through assistance from the Ryedale District Council business grant scheme, we have been able to invest in fans large enough to conduct air tightness tests on large commercial properties such as the new sports hall.”

Nick said there were only a handful of companies who had the capacity to conduct the test in the UK and they were the only one in the Ryedale area.

“Ryedale Air Tightness has gone from strength to strength completing testing for local builders and also including Durham University, Bradford Infirmary, Tesco and Center Parcs,” he added.

“We also now provide acoustic testing and in 2011 we hope to be able to take on additional staff – all made possible by assistance by Ryedale District Council.”

Nick added that the sports hall had passed the air tightness test with a result almost twice as good as the national average.

“The process involves us installing enormous fans on a door and sucking out the air,” he said.

“A computer establishes how hard the fans have to work to achieve a certain pressure and will identify any areas of air leakage.”

Work started on the £2.5 million state-of-the art facility at Malton School last April. Ryedale District Council has provided £1.5 million towards the project along with £200,000 from North Yorkshire County, £250,000 from Malton School, £400,000 from the Football Foundation and £50,000 from Derwent Sports Centre Association.

Paul Goyea, director of York-based contactors William Birch & Sons, said work was well on track despite the recent bad weather.

He said: “We are actually ahead of schedule and we are now at the commissioning process when all the testing is carried out. Everything has done very well and we expect to hand the building over at the end of January.”