
You can design the building.
You can’t design the weather.
Ultrasonic wind and air-flow measurement, weather monitoring, level and position sensing and UKAS-accredited calibration for buildings, construction, district energy and the public realm.
Buildings are designed against predictions. They operate in reality.
A building is consented against a wind microclimate study, a drainage strategy and an energy model. Each is a prediction made before anyone stands beneath the finished building, operates the plant or watches the drainage system handle a real storm.
Once the building exists, conditions become measurable. Wind changes around facades and at street level. Ventilation responds differently on different sides of a building. Rainfall tests drainage capacity. Plant operates through changing temperatures and loads. Construction sites create their own conditions at boundaries and around lifting operations.
The measurement has to work where those conditions actually occur, often in places that are difficult or expensive to revisit. It has to remain reliable, reach the system that needs the data and provide evidence when performance, safety or a planning condition is questioned.
The building is only one part of the measurement environment
Wind on the roof, facade and at street level. Temperature, humidity and pressure for ventilation and plant. Rainfall and level for drainage. Position on dampers, barriers and doors. Condition monitoring for machinery in the plant room.
The measurement points are spread across the building and the environment around it, from a parapet or crane jib to an attenuation tank below a car park. The application determines what the instrument has to survive, how often it can be accessed and how its data needs to be used.
Gill’s technologies span these requirements, from three-axis wind measurement for microclimate and ventilation through to weather, level, position and machinery condition sensing.
Wind where the environment changes
Street-level conditions can differ dramatically from those measured on a roof. Three-axis measurement captures the full wind vector where downdraught, acceleration, turbulence and pedestrian comfort matter.
WindMaster Pro: 3-axis measurement up to 32 Hz
Measurement for difficult-to-access positions
Rooftops, facades and construction equipment can leave little appetite for frequent access. Instrument construction, environmental protection and the absence of moving sensing components all become part of the specification.
WindObserver: 316 stainless steel, IP66, heated options
Beyond wind
The built environment depends on more than weather measurement. Rainfall, liquid level, position and machinery condition all contribute to how buildings, infrastructure and plant perform.
One sensing capability across multiple building systems
From sensor to building system
Measurement only becomes useful when the data reaches the system that needs it. Gill instruments provide industrial communication and analogue interfaces for BMS, SCADA and monitoring applications.
Modbus, RS485, serial, analogue and SDI-12
Independent verification
Building portfolios rarely contain instruments from one manufacturer. Labcal provides UKAS-accredited calibration for equipment from multiple manufacturers across six measurement parameters.
One traceable calibration service across a mixed instrument estate
One building. Seventeen measurement points.
A building measures from the roof to the basement, and from the plant room to the pavement outside.
Wind above the parapet, at the facade and at the kerb. Conditions for ventilation and plant. Rainfall and level for drainage. Position on everything that moves. Measurement for the machinery that keeps the building operating.
Rooftop weather station
The roof is where a building finds out what the weather is actually doing, and it is the only place a met station can go without arguing with the architect.
- MaxiMet GMX551 wind, T, H, P, solar and rainfall in one housing
- MetConnect One Modbus and SDI-12 into the BMS
- WindObserver 75 316 stainless, IP66, for an exposed high roof
Rooftop plant and HVAC
Air handling responds to outside conditions, and a plant deck sheltered by its own parapet is not measuring the same air the intakes are drawing.
- MetConnect THP temperature 0.2 degrees C, humidity 1.5 percent RH
- WindMaster 3-axis for ventilation and air-flow control
- MaxiMet GMX500 wind, temperature, humidity and pressure in one unit
Tall building wind loading
Wind loading and perceived sway are the reasons the structural model exists, and the only way to check the model is to measure the building it produced.
- WindObserver 90 0 to 90 m/s, 316 stainless, no moving parts
- WindMaster Pro 3-axis to 32 Hz for buffeting and vortex work
- WindObserver 75 open head, accurate across a wide flow angle
Facade access and cradles
A building maintenance unit stops at a wind speed, and the crew on the cradle would rather that number came from the facade than the airport.
- WindSonic 60 0 to 60 m/s, 0.5 kg, mounts on the rail or parapet
- WindObserver 75 where the facade position is severely exposed
- Blade position sensors non-contact position feedback on the cradle drive
Tower crane and lifting
An urban lift stops on a wind reading taken at the jib, above a street that will be closed if it goes wrong.
- WindSonic 75 0 to 75 m/s, full-range accuracy published
- WindObserver 90 0 to 90 m/s for tall or exposed jibs
- MaxiMet GMX200 wind only, 0.5 kg, for a temporary works mast
Site hoarding and dust
Dust and noise complaints from a city site arrive with a time on them, and without wind data at the hoarding there is nothing to answer with.
- MaxiMet GMX551 wind, T, H, P, solar and rainfall at the boundary
- MetConnect THP two analogue inputs for dust and noise monitors
- WindSonic 60 a compact wind reference on the hoarding
Pedestrian wind comfort
A tower accelerates wind down its face and around its corners, and the people who feel it are at the bus stop rather than on the roof.
- WindMaster Pro 3-axis to 32 Hz for gust and turbulence at street level
- WindSonic 60 0.5 kg, discreet enough for a street mounting
- MaxiMet GMX200 wind only, for a short pedestrian-comfort survey
Urban heat and outdoor workers
A street of hard surfaces runs hotter than the met office figure, and the people working in it feel radiant heat rather than air temperature.
- MaxiMet GMX552 WBGT heat stress with wind, T, H and P, 1.29 kg, IP66
- MaxiMet GMX300 temperature, humidity and pressure at street level
- MetConnect THP Pt100 input for surface temperature probes
Green roofs and roof irrigation
A green roof is a maintenance liability if it is watered on a timer and a benefit if it is watered on a measurement.
- TruMet PW100 optical rainfall, no bucket to block with substrate
- MaxiMet GMX551 rainfall alongside solar, wind, T, H and P
- MaxiMet GMX301 solar radiation, 0 to 1600 W per square metre
District energy centre
Heat networks and combined heat and power are sized against outside temperature, and they run at their worst efficiency on the day nobody is watching.
- MetConnect THP reference temperature, humidity and pressure
- GS12 Ignition Module up to 12 cylinders, IP67, for CHP engines
- AF120 closed-loop air and fuel ratio control
Smoke control and pressurisation
Stairwell pressurisation and smoke control are commissioned once and then relied on for decades, in the one event where nobody gets to check first.
- MetConnect THP pressure 300 to 1100 hPa, accuracy 0.5 hPa
- Blade position sensors non-contact damper and actuator position feedback
- WindMaster 3-axis air-flow measurement for ventilation control
Barriers, gates and doors
A car park barrier cycles hundreds of times a day, and the sensor proving its position is the part that fails first.
- Blade position sensors non-contact inductive, unlimited-life feedback
- Blade360 contactless rotary position for barrier arms
- Blade Dual Output a second independent channel where redundancy is required
Kerbside air quality
An air quality reading without wind beside it cannot be attributed to the road, the site or the plant, which is exactly what everyone wants to know.
- WindMaster Pro 3-axis to 32 Hz for dispersion at street level
- MetConnect One analogue inputs for third-party analysers
- MaxiMet GMX500 wind, T, H and P alongside the analyser
Drainage, SUDS and attenuation
Sustainable drainage only demonstrates anything if somebody records what the attenuation tank actually did during the storm.
- LevelPro capacitive level, no moving parts to foul
- LevelSlick FEP coated for silty and contaminated water
- TruMet PW100 rainfall intensity to 0 to 200 mm/hr alongside level
Plant room machinery condition
Chillers, pumps and generators fail in a basement nobody visits, and the wear is in the oil before it is in the noise.
- WearDetect oil debris sensing for ferrous wear particles
- LevelPro lubrication and coolant level with no moving parts
- DD1615 level display local indication in the plant room
Ventilation and occupant comfort
Natural ventilation and mixed-mode control open windows on a wind and temperature reading, and get complaints when the reading is from the wrong side of the building.
- WindMaster 3-axis for building and clean-room ventilation control
- MetConnect THP temperature, humidity and pressure into the BMS
- MaxiMet GMX500 one unit, one cable, one output string
Calibration and commissioning evidence
Soft landings, performance in use and a dispute about comfort all come back to whether the instruments were right.
- UKAS-accredited air velocity calibration traceable certification for anemometers
- Multi-parameter calibration six parameters, equipment from any manufacturer
- Recalibration scheduling intervals, reminders and turnaround
Find your building application
Six built environment applications where measurement, integration and calibration meet the demands of the building and the street around it.

Pedestrian Wind Comfort
Test the study against the building
Wind microclimate studies are done in a tunnel or a model years before the building exists. Verifying them on site needs gust and turbulence measurement at the places people actually stand, not a mean wind speed from the roof.
Engineering: 3-axis turbulence measurement, compact street-level sensing, traceable calibration.

Ventilation and Building Management
Control on the right side of the building
Natural and mixed-mode ventilation open and close on outside conditions. A single rooftop reading cannot tell a control system which facade is in the lee, which is how a good strategy produces bad comfort.
Engineering: 3-axis air-flow measurement, BMS integration, damper position feedback.

Facade Access and Cradles
The limit belongs at the facade
Building maintenance units and cradles stop at a defined wind speed. The reading that stops them should come from the facade the crew is on, and the sensor there has to survive years without attention.
Engineering: Ultrasonic wind measurement, non-contact position feedback, UKAS-accredited calibration.

Urban Construction Sites
Lifts, dust and the neighbours
A city site lifts over a public street, generates dust and noise at a boundary metres from a window, and answers complaints afterwards. Wind data at the jib and at the hoarding covers both.
Engineering: Ultrasonic wind measurement, boundary monitoring, analyser integration.

Drainage, SUDS and Attenuation
Evidence, not assumption
Sustainable drainage is a planning condition before it is an engineering system. Demonstrating that an attenuation tank did what it was designed to do needs level and rainfall recorded through the storm, not modelled after it.
Engineering: Capacitive level sensing, optical precipitation, remote monitoring.

District Energy and Plant
Efficiency on the worst day
Heat networks and combined heat and power are sized against outside temperature and judged on annual efficiency. The plant that carries them fails in a basement, and the wear shows in the oil before it shows anywhere else.
Engineering: Gas engine controls, oil debris monitoring, environmental measurement.
insight
Why street-level wind is a 3-axis problem and roof-level wind is not
A rooftop anemometer answers a simple question: what is the wind doing above the building. Two axes are usually enough, and a heated WindObserver will keep answering it for years without attention.
Street level is a different problem. Downdraught off a facade, acceleration at a corner and vortices between towers all have a vertical and a turbulent component, and pedestrian comfort criteria are written around gusts rather than mean speeds. That needs the full three-dimensional vector, which is what the WindMaster Pro provides at up to 32 Hz across 0 to 65 m/s.
The same 3-axis measurement is what building and clean-room ventilation control uses, so the instrument that validates a microclimate study is often the one that ends up controlling the building.
That is the practical point. A pedestrian comfort study and a ventilation control loop are the same measurement asked at different moments, and specifying for one usually settles the other.
Built environment technologies
Products and services engineered for buildings and the public realm, spanning wind and air-flow measurement, rooftop and boundary weather stations, level and position sensing and calibration across Gill.
Meteorological Technology

WindMaster
3-axis ultrasonic anemometer
Measures the full three-dimensional wind vector, which is what pedestrian comfort, downdraught and ventilation control actually depend on.

WindObserver
Heated 316 stainless open-head 2-axis anemometer
For roof, facade and crane positions where a sensor has to work for years without being reached.

MaxiMet
All-in-one weather station, no moving parts
One unit, one cable, one output string, which is what makes a rooftop or hoarding installation practical. The GMX552 adds WBGT heat stress.

MetConnect
Separable weather station with third-party inputs
The station for bringing existing building instruments into one record and getting the data into the BMS in a protocol it already speaks.
Industrial Sensors

Level sensing
Capacitive liquid level sensors
Attenuation tanks, sumps and plant reservoirs, with no float to foul in silty or contaminated water.

Blade position sensors
Non-contact inductive position sensing
Damper, barrier, gate and door position feedback with nothing in contact, on equipment that cycles all day.

TruMet PW100
Infrared optical rain gauge
A solid-state alternative to the tipping bucket, which on a roof or a green roof means nothing to block with leaf litter or substrate.
UKAS-accredited calibration for six measurement parameters
Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited calibration laboratory, Lab 0625, operating to ISO/IEC 17025:2017. It provides calibration across gas and air flow, air velocity, liquid flow, pressure, temperature and humidity, all under one roof.
For built environment measurement that includes anemometers, Pitot tubes and thermal probes, alongside pressure gauges and transducers, thermometers, temperature and humidity probes and data loggers. Labcal supports equipment from Gill and other manufacturers, which matters across a portfolio where each building was fitted out by a different contractor.
01 · Gas and air flow
Gas meters · Mass flow controllers · Dispensing systems · Low-flow laboratory to higher-flow industrial
02 · Air velocity
Anemometers · Pitot tubes · Thermal probes
03 · Liquid flow
Flow meters and sensors · Process control equipment · Water used for the accredited capability
04 · Pressure
Gauges · Transducers · Manometers · Transmitters
05 · Temperature
Thermometers · Probes · Thermocouples · Data loggers
06 · Humidity
Hygrometers · Probes · Transmitters
The measurement has to reach the system that runs the building
A building measurement is only useful once the building management system can act on it.
Gill supports environmental monitoring, industrial sensing, embedded electronics and systems integration to help developers, operators, consultants and controls contractors bring reliable measurement into BMS, SCADA and monitoring platforms.
The sensors output Modbus RTU, serial, analogue and SDI-12 rather than native BACnet, so where a BACnet estate is the target the data joins it through a gateway or the BMS controller already on site. Whether the requirement is Modbus into a BMS, an analogue loop into existing controls, SDI-12 across a monitoring network, or a bespoke embedded solution, Gill engineers can support integration from specification through commissioning.
Outputs and options
- Modbus RTU & serial : Into a BMS directly, or into BACnet through a gateway
- 4-20 mA & 0-10 V : Level and position into existing controls
- SDI-12 & RS485 : Monitoring networks and outstations
- Analogue & Pt100 : Third-party analysers and surface probes
Why building programmes specify Gill
The right measurement for street level
The WindMaster Pro measures all three axes at up to 32 Hz, which is what gust-based pedestrian comfort criteria and downdraught actually need.
Built for positions nobody revisits
No moving parts to seize, 316 stainless and IP66 on the WindObserver range, heating options and icing tested to MIL-STD-810F.
Engineering expertise
Gill pioneered ultrasonic wind measurement and has been building wind sensors in the UK since 1985, with the same principle now used across buildings, aviation, marine and research.
The whole building, not just the roof
Rainfall and level for drainage, position feedback for dampers and barriers, and oil debris monitoring for plant room machinery.
Designed to integrate
Modbus, SDI-12, RS485, 4-20 mA and 0-10 V, with analogue and Pt100 inputs where existing building instruments have to join the same station.
Evidence when a condition is tested
Independent UKAS-accredited calibration across six parameters, for equipment from any manufacturer, so a whole portfolio can sit with one laboratory.
Cities and buildings application notes
5 numbered application notes for this sector. Each is the original engineering document, with its PDF.
- Application note AN0006WindSonic used as part of entertainment monitoring
- Application note AN0012Control of Building HVAC Systems
- Application note AN0016WindSonic at Glastonbury for structural & noise monitoring
- Application note AN0021MetPak – Monitoring for weather & climate effects on stone structure
- Application note AN0025WindSonic monitoring at stadiums
Built environment measurement questions, from siting to the BMS
By measuring gusts and turbulence at the locations the study assessed, over a period long enough to capture representative conditions. Comfort criteria are written around gust speeds, so a mean wind speed does not answer the question.
The WindMaster Pro measures all three axes at up to 32 Hz across 0 to 65 m/s.
No. A tower accelerates and deflects flow around and down its facades, which is why the microclimate study exists. Roof measurement is the reference; street level is the effect.
Because pedestrian comfort criteria are written around gusts rather than mean speeds, and the gust at street level has a vertical component. Downdraught off a facade, acceleration at a corner and vortices between towers are three-dimensional effects, and a 2-axis sensor cannot see the part of the flow that is arriving from above.
The WindMaster Pro measures the full three-dimensional vector at up to 32 Hz across 0 to 65 m/s, which is the rate the gust statistics behind Lawson or NEN 8100 style criteria need.
A compact 2-axis sensor mounted at the facade. The WindSonic 60 measures 0 to 60 m/s at 0.5 kg, which is straightforward to mount on a rail or parapet, and there is nothing in it to wear.
Clear of the parapet, plant and any adjacent taller structure, at a height where the flow is not still recovering from the roof edge. A station tucked behind a parapet reads the sheltered eddy rather than the wind.
Outside wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity and often pressure, ideally with enough resolution to know which facade is exposed. The WindMaster range is used for building and clean-room ventilation control.
Through the protocol the BMS already accepts. MetConnect outputs RS232, RS422, RS485, Modbus and SDI-12, with ASCII, Modbus RTU and ASCII, NMEA 0183 and SDI-12 v1.3 protocols. Level and position sensors also offer 4-20 mA and 0-10 V.
Because dust and noise complaints arrive with a time attached, and attributing them needs wind speed and direction recorded at the boundary. MetConnect takes two analogue inputs so the dust and noise monitors can feed the same record.
Non-contact inductive sensing. The Blade range covers linear and rotary formats with a dual output variant for redundancy, and has no wearing parts in the measurement.
Oil condition, fluid level and position feedback. WearDetect monitors lubricating oil for ferrous wear particles, which gives warning on chillers, pumps and generators before the noise or the failure does.
Yes. Alongside environmental measurement, the GS8, GS12 and GT6 ignition modules and the AF120 air and fuel ratio controller cover the gas engines in a CHP plant. All are IP67.
With a gauge on the site itself rather than a regional figure, because attenuation performance is judged against the rainfall the catchment actually received. Intensity matters as much as total depth: a design storm is defined by how fast the water arrived, not only how much.
An optical gauge such as the TruMet PW100 has no tipping mechanism to block with roof grit, moss or leaf debris, and it reports intensity continuously rather than in bucket increments. Pair it with capacitive level in the attenuation tank and the discharge record has both halves of the story.
By recording level in the tank alongside rainfall intensity through the event. Level with no moving parts is the practical choice, because a float in silty water is a maintenance visit waiting to happen.
Tipping buckets block with leaf litter, moss and green roof substrate, and under-read in light rain. The TruMet PW100 measures optically with no moving parts, 0 to 200 mm/hr at 5 percent accuracy and 0.1 mm resolution, and outputs a pulse per 0.1 mm so it replaces one directly.
As wet bulb globe temperature, which combines air temperature, humidity and radiant heat. On a street of hard surfaces the radiant component is what makes the difference. The MaxiMet GMX552 measures WBGT alongside wind, temperature, humidity and pressure.
Set by the operator and by what the measurement is used to argue. Where a reading supports a planning condition, a comfort dispute or a performance guarantee, annual traceable calibration is common.
Labcal is UKAS-accredited to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and calibrates air velocity, temperature, humidity, pressure, and gas and liquid flow.
Six: gas and air flow, air velocity, liquid flow, pressure, temperature and humidity. Labcal is an independent UKAS-accredited laboratory, Lab 0625, and calibrates equipment from any manufacturer, not only equipment supplied by Gill.
Yes. Alongside the standard ranges, Gill engineers develop embedded and integrated solutions where an off-the-shelf product does not fit the structure or the control architecture.
Speak to our team
Tell us what you need to measure, where and under what conditions. We’ll help you work out the appropriate approach.
We aim to respond in one working day.





































