The development of a youth facility incorporating sports and leisure elements.

The design strategy for the building integrates sustainable engineering with innovative technologies. The building has a very good demonstration value, high visibility and low running and maintenance costs.

The design requires up to 87% less energy from external sources than a typical construction of the same size and shape and reduces the CO₂ emissions by up to 80%. In comparing the design with a typical good practice building of the same nature, with energy demand of 169kWh/m2, Bellingham Families and Young People Gateway Building clearly excels, with a target level of 19.71kWh/m2.

Sustainable Design

A small 15kW wind turbine is able to provide up to 60% of the electricity demand of the building. A roof-mounted photovoltaic array is incorporated into the building design and provides up to 16% of the electricity demand of the building, with solar panels providing 55% of hot water demand of the building.

Two ground source heat pumps and underfloor heating can achieve up to a 70% saving in energy for heating and a saving of up to 40% in CO₂ emissions, when compared to a condensing boiler.

Grey water recycling is used to minimize the use of water for irrigation and flushing of toilets, achieving up to a 30% saving in water consumption.