The extension of existing facilities including a Performing Arts Hall, Sports England, Sports Hall, Changing Facilities, six Laboratories and IT room. Project value £5.6m.

Sustainable Design

The building is designed to be predominantly naturally ventilated. A performance hall is passively cooled via a ground coupled ventilation system maintaining comfort for 150 occupants.

A detailed thermal analysis informed the client and design team of the need for passive control of solar gain and ventilation systems. Solar control is provided in the form of photo-voltaic shades incorporated onto the south facing facade.

Building Analysis

During the concept stage of the architectural design, thermal analysis and computerised fluid dynamics confirmed the nature of building form, fabric and passive controls necessary to maintain a comfortable internal environment. The building then being developed to stage D and submitted for planning.

Hall areas both general purpose and in this case task specific have periods of high occupation. Under these circumstances, it is important comfort is maintained for occupants. The educational environmental standard, BB87 is clear relating to comfort criteria. In order to minimize CO₂ emissions and life cycle costs a ground coupled cooling system was developed and installed.

The system pre-cools air, using ground energy, prior to entering the hall. In this manner the hall is maintained within a comfortable condition. During winter, ground energy stored during heating months is used to pre-warm air prior to heating.