CARBON CHAMPION CASE STUDY BRADFORD UNIVERSITY
BREEAM: ‘Outstanding’achievement for dwellings The Green was the first student accommodation in the UK to achieve a BREEAM Outstanding rating. The development of townhouses and apartments has been designed to enable the 1,014 residents to live in a more sustainable way, and to encourage interaction between the tenants. ‘We wanted to build in a sustainable fashion so that the students who live in the development go on to live sustainable lifestyles,’ says Clive Wilson, director of estates at the university.
‘I calculated that, without the expense of eco-bling, for the same money as a standard hall of residence, we could build low- energy, well-insulated town houses based on a timber frame,’ he says. The Halls opened last year. The design
is based on rows of town houses, because that was what was on the site before the university was built. For the Halls’ construction, Wilson drew his inspiration from sustainable schemes such as BedZed and sustainable homes at BRE. With the accommodation sorted,
Wilson’s attention turned to the students’ education. He convinced the university’s Vice Chancellor of the merits of introducing a sustainability module that was specific to each course. In 2005, the institutional change programme known as Ecoversity was born. ‘From then on,
I calculated that, without the expense of eco-bling, for the same money as a standard hall of residence we could build low-energy, well- insulated town houses based on a timber frame
www.cibsejournal.com
The £40m eco-village was designed by architect The Goddard Wybor Practice and developed by Listerhills Sustainable Student Village, a joint venture between Welbeck Land and the Hayat Group. It comprises four blocks of 12-room townhouses, and 101 apartments arranged as clusters of six flats in three five- to seven-storey blocks. The development is clustered around a pond, which is part of the scheme’s sustainable urban drainage solution (SUDS). Only indigenous plants are used and the landscaped grounds include vegetable beds for student use. Energy: A 1.6MWe combined
heat and power (CHP) unit provides energy for the development. The unit has been sized to meet the base hot water heat load of the 34 townhouses. Hot water for the apartment blocks will be pre-heated by solar thermal panels. Metering: Energy meters monitor gas, electricity and water, with consumption figures displayed on screens in the kitchens. The displays are aimed at encouraging students to compare their energy use with their neighbours’ – something that won the development a BREEAM Innovation credit. Low-energy light fittings are used throughout, and passive infra- red detectors turn off the lights in unused communal areas. Insulation: The high levels of insulation used in the scheme’s walls, floors and roof, and the scheme’s airtight construction, mean that heating loads are minimal. The accommodation has been constructed using a prefabricated panelised timber frame system. Prefabrication: Wall and floor panels are manufactured off- site from FSC-certified timber to reduce waste and improve quality. The bathrooms are also
delivered to site as prefabricated pods with showers and toilets already installed, pre-plumbed and fully tiled. Back-up heating: A low-pressure hot water heating system, based on radiators fitted with thermostatic radiator valves, provides background heat when temperatures are exceptionally low. Ventilation: A mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) unit circulates fresh, filtered air around the buildings, with extraction from the shower/ toilet areas. These are claimed to recover 80% of the heat from the building. Water: Washbasins and showers are fitted with aerated fittings, which use less water by mixing it with air. The scheme also features dual flush toilets, fed by rainwater harvested from the buildings’ roofs and stored in underground tanks. Waste: Extensive recycling facilities in the kitchens use colour-coded bins to enable waste to be properly segregated. The university also operates a Rocket Composter, which converts up to 10 tonnes of food waste into compost for use on the campus.
The Social Enterprise Centre incorporates a ‘sun space’
June 2012 CIBSE Journal 27
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