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HVAC


HEATING GETS A REACTION AT CHEMISTRY LAB


Chris Jackson from Uponor discusses the underfloor heating specification for the new GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Nottingham.


The new GSK Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus looks like a strikingly different building, and it is.


FDG Architects’ design has combined unusual aesthetics with a highly thermally-efficient building fabric and renewable energy sources, timber facades, curved ventilation towers and sloping green roofs.


The £15.8 million building boasts BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, LEED ‘Platinum’ and EPC A+ ratings. Powered and heated by solar and biofuel energy (with a gas-fired boiler installed for use only as an emergency backup), the building has been designed to be carbon neutral over its 25-year lifespan and to offset 100 tonnes of carbon per year with the excess energy it feeds back into the grid – enough to pay back the carbon used during construction.


REDUCED EMBEDDED


CARBON Part-funded by GSK, the new facility provides 4,500m2


of teaching and


research space. Delivered by main contractor, Morgan Sindall, with building services designed by Aecom and installed by Imtech, the project considered energy performance and embedded carbon in every aspect of the specification.


As a solution that’s both compatible with the lower heat inputs of renewable energy sources and capable of adjustable heat outputs, underfloor heating was always the preferred heating option for the


34 | TOMORROW’S FM


scheme. The reduced embedded carbon of the Uponor system and the ability of the Uponor team to work with Morgan Sindall on buildability considerations, were both pivotal to the detailed specification.


IN SLAB INSTALLATION The building’s biofuel CHP unit


provides its main heat energy source, generating 193kW of heat alongside 200kW of electrical power, which supplements the 200,000kW/h/ annum of energy from the solar PV installation. Using an undisclosed sustainable liquid biofuel, the CHP feeds a thermal store and the underfloor heating.


The Uponor team worked with Morgan Sindall from the early stages of design development to adapt the original approach across the building’s two storeys, achieving time, cost and carbon savings.


The initial specification for the ground floor was for an in-screed system. Changing this to an in-slab specification enabled the project team to further reduce the scheme’s embedded carbon by removing the materials required for the screed and exploiting the concrete slabs’ thermal conductivity.


The 20mm diameter Uponor Q&E PEX pipework was looped into position in a zoned configuration and attached to the steel reinforcement rebar for the slab prior to the concrete pour. Held in place by pipe tie wires, the robust Q&E PEX pipe will outlast the service life of the building. Moreover, installation within the jointless floor slab will protect the pipe from any risk of damage throughout its lifespan, with only the


manifolds installed above ground level requiring any maintenance.


CLT DECK The first floor construction was a


cross laminated timber (CLT) deck. Here, the Q&E PEX pipe diameter was reduced from 20mm to 16mm and the pipe system was installed in pre-routed insulation boards on the CLT substrate, along with the heat emission plates. The completed zoned pipework loops were then sealed in place with a board overlay.


The change in pipe diameter was facilitated by the wide range of pipe sizes within the standard Uponor range and a collaborative approach to finding the most cost and carbon- efficient specification to achieve the required heat outputs.


PIONEERING SCHEME Uponor provided design, supply,


installation and contract management of the underfloor heating for the scheme, which has now been completed to a positive reception from students, staff and the design and construction community.


Underfloor heating is just one of the elements that have combined to achieve the project’s carbon neutral goals and the installation demonstrates both the value of the renewables-friendly technology in managing the operational costs and carbon consumption of the building and the benefits of working with a system manufacturer to develop the most appropriate and low maintenance specification to meet an individual building’s needs.


www.uponor.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM


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