Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning Installation at Strip Soho, London

Vibrant Soho Setting: Berwick Street and Urban Boutique Charm

In the heart of London’s West End, Soho is a bustling maze of historic streets filled with boutiques, cafes, and nightlife. Berwick Street, in particular, is famed for its eclectic mix of fashion shops, record stores, and one of London’s oldest street markets. Amid this vibrant urban scene sits Strip Soho, a high-end beauty boutique on Berwick Street. The area’s rich heritage and dense architecture mean space comes at a premium – rooftops and facades are often protected or packed with essential services. Any building upgrades here must be handled with creativity and care to preserve Soho’s unique character. This lively setting formed the backdrop for an especially challenging air conditioning installation, where both local context and aesthetic integrity were paramount.

A High-End Waxing and Lingerie Boutique with Luxury Interiors

Strip Soho isn’t your typical salon – it’s a luxurious waxing and lingerie boutique known for its opulent interior design and intimate, upscale ambiance. Inside 69 Berwick Street, clients are greeted by plush furnishings, elegant décor, and softly lit treatment rooms that exude a boutique hotel feel. Every detail of the interior has been carefully curated to create a relaxing, high-end experience for clientele. Comfort is crucial: in private treatment suites, temperatures need to be just right and background noise minimal, ensuring clients feel at ease during waxing and laser sessions. However, delivering perfect comfort in this boutique came with a big catch. Housed in a classic Soho building now topped with newly developed flats, the shop had no external space available for standard air conditioning equipment. Maintaining the salon’s sumptuous atmosphere while introducing modern cooling presented a unique challenge.

Why a Creative Air Conditioning Solution Was Essential

The need for effective air conditioning in Strip Soho was non-negotiable – for both client comfort and protecting those luxury interiors – but a conventional installation proved impossible. Originally, the boutique had its AC condenser unit mounted on the roof. When new residential apartments were constructed above the shop, that rooftop condenser had to be removed, instantly leaving the salon without active cooling. With the building now extended upward, there was no exterior ground or wall space to install a replacement outdoor unit. Strict building regulations and the dense urban environment meant placing a condenser on the front façade or sidewalk was out of the question. Other HVAC contractors took one look and walked away, unable to find a viable solution under these constraints. For the boutique’s owners, it was a worrying situation: how could they keep their elegant space cool and comfortable without any outdoor condenser? This is where Ernest Air Cooling stepped in. Refusing to accept “impossible,” our team – led by director Tim Brooks – recognized that only a highly creative, custom solution would work. We devised an unconventional approach to bring modern climate control into the shop from the inside, preserving both the building’s exterior and the boutique’s ambience.

A Quiet, Hidden AC System Engineered for the Space

The breakthrough came in the form of an ingenious indoor bulkhead installation for the Mitsubishi Electric air conditioning system. In place of the building’s high-mounted front windows, we worked with the renovation team to install two louvered grilles – one for air intake and one for exhaust – just above the shopfront display. Behind these new grilles, we constructed a fully insulated bulkhead enclosure that spans the width of the storefront interior. Housed inside this custom-built bulkhead is a Mitsubishi Electric condenser unit, typically meant for outdoor use but here cleverly tucked out of sight. The bulkhead’s internal structure is divided into separate chambers for intake and exhaust air, so the condenser can breathe freely: drawing fresh air in through one grille while expelling hot air out the other. Crucially, the entire enclosure is acoustically and thermally insulated. This prevents the condenser’s heat and vibration from intruding into the boutique or disturbing the new flats above. To further ensure smooth operation, we fitted a condensate drip tray and drain beneath the unit to capture water produced during cooling or defrost cycles – an important addition when an AC condenser lives indoors. We also incorporated a secondary extraction fan within the bulkhead. This fan boosts airflow through the enclosure, whisking away heat build-up and any “stale” air that might accumulate around the condenser. Thanks to this extra ventilation support, the indoor unit runs efficiently without overheating, and any warm exhaust is promptly ejected outside. Despite the unconventional setup, the Mitsubishi Electric condenser operates silently behind the scenes. Passersby on Berwick Street have no clue that a robust AC heart is hidden just above the boutique’s front door, and inside the shop the only thing clients feel is a gentle, comfortable coolness. On the client side of the system, we installed sleek Mitsubishi Electric wall-mounted AC units in each of Strip’s private treatment rooms. These compact indoor units deliver targeted cooling (and heating when needed) to every room, allowing therapists to maintain ideal temperatures for each service. To keep the air from ever feeling stuffy in the windowless treatment areas, we also added discreet fresh-air inlet grilles in each room. These small vents introduce a trickle of outside air into the space, replenishing oxygen and balancing humidity without drafts. Even with the added ventilation, the entire system runs whisper-quiet. The indoor units are high on the walls and have quiet modes suitable for spa-like environments, so clients relaxing during a wax or laser session remain undisturbed. By engineering the AC solution specifically for this unique space, we achieved the goal: invisible, barely-audible climate control that supports the boutique’s luxury experience.

Seamless Integration with the Interior Design Team

Executing this ambitious retrofit in an operating luxury boutique required tight collaboration and careful craftsmanship. Ernest Air Cooling partnered closely with Bridley Interiors, the shopfitting and interior design specialists leading Strip Soho’s refurbishment. Together, we coordinated every modification to ensure the cooling solution blended in seamlessly with the boutique’s aesthetic. Removing the high-level display windows and replacing them with custom color-matched grilles was a delicate task – it had to be done in a way that didn’t detract from the storefront’s appearance. The bulkhead enclosure built behind the shopfront was meticulously designed by the interiors team to double as an architectural feature. Once the AC unit was installed and tested, the entire shopfront (including the new grille panels) was repainted in Strip’s signature teal hue, restoring a unified, stylish façade. From the street, one would be hard-pressed to notice any difference; the air inlet and outlet look like natural design elements of the building, keeping the modern equipment completely out of sight. Inside the store, preservation of the luxury feel was just as important. Our technicians ran refrigerant pipework and wiring discreetly through ceiling voids and along structural columns, concealing them behind finishes so no tubing or cables are visible. Where the indoor AC units were mounted in treatment rooms, we worked with Bridley’s designers to position them unobtrusively and even customized joinery around them where needed. The additional fresh-air vents were installed flush to walls with minimal trim, virtually disappearing into the rooms. All noisy work was scheduled off-hours or coordinated to minimize impact on Strip’s operating schedule, meaning the boutique could continue serving clients during the upgrade with minimal disruption. The end result is a triumph of both engineering and design teamwork: the salon’s chic interior and storefront aesthetic remain intact – some might say even enhanced – while a powerful new climate control system hums away out of sight. This seamless integration was key to the project’s success, proving that even radical technical solutions can be executed without sacrificing style.

One Year Later: Silent Comfort and Invisible Cooling

Twelve months on from the installation, Strip Soho’s unconventional air conditioning system has proven itself in real-world use – silent, effective, and truly out of mind. Over the past year, the boutique sailed through the heat of summer and the cold of winter with stable indoor temperatures in every treatment room. Clients consistently comment on how comfortable the environment feels, likely unaware of the engineering feat concealed above the shopfront. The Mitsubishi Electric units keep each room at the perfect setting, and the added fresh air inlets ensure that even during long days of back-to-back appointments, the rooms never feel stuffy. Importantly, what you don’t feel or hear is just as impressive: there’s no rattling fan, no hot draft, and no eyesore machinery — the system simply goes about its job quietly in the background. A year of continuous operation has validated the design’s reliability. Routine check-ups have found the indoor condenser enclosure clean and dry, thanks to the drip tray and drainage preventing any leaks. The secondary fan and dual-grille setup have kept airflow balanced; the condenser hasn’t overheated even on the hottest days, and its presence remains unnoticed by the residents in the flats above. Noise levels in the shop and outside on Berwick Street are as low as promised – essentially negligible. Strip’s staff have reported that they sometimes forget the AC condenser is even there, because it’s never audible or obtrusive. This kind of silent comfort is exactly what a premium salon in Soho needs: technology that works flawlessly without drawing attention to itself. One year in, the hidden bulkhead AC system continues to deliver on its promise, maintaining a cool, inviting haven for clients amidst the hustle and bustle of Soho.

A Boutique That Stays Cool Without Compromising Style

The successful climate control retrofit at Strip Soho stands as a showcase for what innovative thinking can achieve in challenging urban spaces. In the middle of Soho’s tightly packed, style-conscious streets, we managed to provide top-tier cooling without compromising the building’s character or the boutique’s interior style. The project transformed a daunting problem – no outdoor space for AC – into an elegant solution that keeps both the client and the landlord happy. By literally turning the air conditioning inside-out, Ernest Air Cooling delivered year-round comfort to this luxury waxing and lingerie boutique in a way that’s practically invisible. The owners of Strip Soho were so pleased with the results that they’ve already entrusted us with their next store opening in Notting Hill, where we’ll bring the same level of creativity and care to meet that location’s unique demands. It’s a genuine vote of confidence that underscores how effective this solution has been. For other businesses in historic or space-limited locations, this story is a promising example: with a bit of ingenuity and close collaboration, it is possible to retrofit modern air conditioning into almost any environment. Strip Soho’s Berwick Street shop now enjoys a perfectly climate-controlled atmosphere year-round – all while retaining the quiet, luxurious atmosphere that their clientele expect. In the end, the salon remains every bit as stylish and inviting as before, just a whole lot cooler behind the scenes.

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