12 RUTH TALKS - SUSTAINABILITY & ENERGY EFFICIENCY Ashley Bateson profile By Ruth Slavid
By definition, a lot of Bateson’s work is concerned with ensuring that projects meet regulations and guidance, but that doesn’t mean that he necessarily agrees that all the guidance is right. For instance, he is critical of the mayor of London’s insistence on having 20 per cent of energy generated renewably on site. ‘No other country in the world is being that radical about specific policies,’ he says. ‘They are more holistic about energy efficient design.’
Bateson is very clear that there has to be a hierarchy in energy-efficient design. First you reduce the demand for the energy. Then you make sure that the building is as energy efficient as possibly. And only thirdly do you start looking at your low or zero-carbon technology.
Hoare Lea prepared the energy and sustainability strategy for the new public library at Canada Water, east London, designed by CZWG, and is managing the BREEAM assessment process through to completion of the project. The building will use a ground-source heat pump and solar thermal panels. Architects: CZWG Architects LLP
WHEN IS A BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEER NOT A BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEER? WHEN HE IS A SUSTAINABILITY CONSULTANT. THIS AT LEAST SEEMS TO BE THE CASE FOR ASHLEY BATESON, A PARTNER AT HOARE LEA, WHO RUNS ITS SUSTAINABILITY TEAM. ‘WE ARE ONE OF A NUMBER OF SPECIALIST GROUPS THAT COMPLEMENT THE CONSULTANCY SERVICES,’ HE EXPLAINS. SOMETIMES THE SUSTAINABILITY GROUP WILL SUPPORT THE BUILDING SERVICES ENGINEERS; AT OTHERS IT WILL ACT EXTERNALLY AS PART OF A TEAM, POSSIBLY WHERE HOARE LEA IS NOT THE SERVICES ENGINEER.
‘A
lot of the smaller consultancies are very good at designing the installations,’ he says, leaving
dangling the question of how they deal with broader issues. But one reason that Bateson sees the role of the sustainability consultant growing is because of the amount of legislation and local authority guidance that is coming in. ‘Five to ten years ago all these things were thought of as good practice,’ he explains. ‘But now you need to write certain reports, apply
for certain grants.’ As a result there is a growing need for sustainability consultants, and architects and other members of the design team are pleased to work with them.
So who should play this role? Bateson has a building services background, and although he does not think this discipline is the only appropriate one, he does think it has great strengths ‘because of the metrics and the carbon agenda’.
While he believes that simple things like getting the balance of glazing right are essential to making buildings energy efficient, he also believes that it is essential to understand the way that people behave. He is an advocate of the Passivhaus type of approach to buildings, where you insulate your building and make it airtight, so that your only heat loss is through ventilation – and you use a heat exchanger to minimise this. This is not a universally popular approach, but, he says, ‘the reason why there have been bad case studies of sealed buildings is that they have not thought out the human impact.’
On Jean Nouvel’s eyecatching ‘groundscraper’ bang next to St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Hoare Lea carried out the energy strategy, which uses water from the deep aquifer under the site for heating and cooling.
▲
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92