34 | FOCUS: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSTRUCTION | CAMPUS SERVICES
RIGHT: The University of Nottingham's Energy Technology Building
award, the building will also use novel materials – including Norfolk straw and heather, alongside timber from nearby Thetford forest, which was removed as part of a road-widening scheme. “What these buildings also do is educate
occupants about sustainable living and motivate them to apply sustainability to other areas of their lives,” says McKeown. “This is hugely important if we are to meet our tough UK carbon reduction commitments.” To achieve this goal, she perceives that BRE’s clients, “are really challenging themselves, and pushing the boundaries in terms of sustainability and the innovation that supports it.”
New solutions Despite the potential risks and initial expenditure often associated with implementing unorthodox solutions, there’s ample evidence to demonstrate that some universities are rising to meet the challenge. BREEAM’s 2014 awards ceremony celebrated another trailblazing HEI which achieved an ‘Outstanding’ rating – received by less than 1% of new builds – becoming the fi rst UK research lab to receive the award. The University of Not ingham’s Energy
"THESE BUILDINGS EDUCATE OCCUPANTS ABOUT SUSTAINABLE LIVING"
Technology Building, opened in 2012, successfully incorporates numerous diff erent aspects of environmental design into a holistic space which illustrates the opportunities available to ‘green’ diff erent forms and functions. “We not only want to research into sustainable low carbon technologies, but we also want to showcase these technologies too,” explains Gavin Walker, Professor in Sustainable Energy Technologies – a discipline which is now homed in the structure. “What bet er way than to have the research building as a low carbon demonstration,” he emphasised. If one considers the structure as a paragon,
then its many facets have several lessons to impart. Made with recycled concrete, the facility is ventilated using passive ground source heat, electrifi ed using photovoltaic systems, and has opted for ‘brown’ and ‘green’ rooftops, which can support local ecosystems through providing new habitats for wildlife. Energised using a Biofuel CHP (combined heat
and power) system, which also supplies the adjacent Institute of Mental Health to optimise effi ciency, the premises can supply a more radical form of power – a hydrogen vehicle refueller – to commuters of the future. Several of the building’s features are also set
to be employed in a new science facility, the Carbon Neutral Lab – again designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, and designed to export surplus energy to off set the carbon used in its construction. Electricity generation via photovoltaic, or solar
power, has proven enduringly popular throughout HE and the UK – stimulated by reduced unit costs, and government subsidy incentives. “What we have noticed is that new university buildings are tending to have maximum PV installed rather than green bling, although the BREEAM system is not particularly rewarding for large renewable energy systems, as opposed to a token one,” comments Richard Harris, a Renewable Energy Consultant and Architect from specialist PV installation fi rm Solar Sense. “One of the main issues I think universities face is procurement obstacles,” he asserts,
“as PV is classed as a service rather than works, so universities can only place orders up to a fairly modest value with a single supplier, before they have to re-tender.” “Budgets are not limitless, but we have found
universities also tend not to think very creatively with alternative fi nance models such as asset (lease) fi nance, or third-party ownership whereby the university can avoid CAPEX completely and get discounted electricity in return for a 20- year PPA,” continues the architect. However, he believes, factors such as carbon reduction targets, mounting inter-university competition and planning authority requirements to install renewables are continuing to drive demand. Some of Solar Sense’s recent projects include
installations at the universities of Bath, Cardiff and Bristol’s UWE, and its latest venture is a system which will generate a peak of 229 kilowat s (kWp) at the University of Not ingham, as part of a structure intended to be the fi rst authentically ‘zero carbon’ HE building in the UK. The facility will consist of 666 panels supplying 330 wat peak high effi ciency, at ached to a roof membrane via a bonded rib system. According to Harris, PV can typically recoup on initial expenditure between six and eight years after deployment, and may deliver an internal rate of return of around 13.5%–15.5% – although some future opportunities for development are currently inhibited by poor business cases. If conscientious enhancements and green
blueprints don’t seem to add up, then perhaps, to ensure their benefi ts are correctly assessed and understood, the sector needs to embrace
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