CIBSE AWARDS WINNER BROCKHOLES
want cooling, you just open the windows,’ Pochee explains. Despite its lack of thermal mass, Pochee
has introduced what he terms ‘a night- cooling strategy’. In effect, this is an option to flush the rooms with cool morning air. ‘Because the buildings are so well insulated and sealed, they will still be hot in the morning,’ he explains.
Cooking up carbon savings Natural ventilation is also a feature of the commercial kitchen, which serves the centre’s restaurant. ‘The caterer has the option of natural ventilation when the hobs are not in use,’ says Pochee. For the remainder of the time, however, a mechanical ventilation system incorporating variable speed fans will remove heat and moisture from the space. Like the materials used to construct
the buildings on the scheme, the kitchen equipment, too, has been selected to provide a low carbon solution. Max Fordham took the catering consultant’s equipment schedule, which specified the types and numbers of appliances, such as ovens, deep-fat fryers and hobs, and
analysed the efficiency of the different cooking devices. ‘We worked with the catering consultant
to specify equipment that was of the highest efficiency, used the lowest carbon fuel source, but was affordable within the client’s budget,’ says Pochee. For example, the team would have preferred to use electric induction hobs because these were found to be the most efficient catering solution; however, they were also too expensive so liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) hobs have been specified instead. Heat for the visitor centre is provided by
a 150kW low NOx biomass boiler, burning locally produced wood chips – a cheaper solution than providing a gas supply to the site, according to Pochee. Air and ground source heat pumps were also considered but were found to be a more expensive option than biomass in terms of carbon saved per pound invested. The boiler house is situated on land adjacent to the lake and is connected to the floating village by flexible, pre-insulated heating pipes. These have the capacity to cope with a 4m rise in water levels, and all services are flexible and waterproof to enable them to run under the lake.
It was quite bold and daring enough to give me a couple of sleepless nights
34
CIBSE Journal September 2012
www.cibsejournal.com
Ioana Marinescu
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