The University of Leicester’s Centre for Medicine is the largest project in the UK to gain Passivhaus certification. Andy Pearson looks at how outstanding teamwork between the contractor, engineer and architect ensured a winning scheme
Category: Case Studies
Registered delivery: Nottingham Trent University retrofit
Nottingham Trent University has successfully integrated a biomass boiler and district heating system in a challenging retrofit project involving a neglected Victorian register office. This triumph scooped Commercial Project of the Year for the university engineering team at the 2016 CIBSE Awards. Andy Pearson reports
Fitness fanatics – Arboreal Architecture’s Clapham retrofit
Arboreal Architecture was awarded Residential Project of the Year at the CIBSE Awards for its forensic approach to a domestic retrofit in Clapham. Andy Pearson looks at how a deep understanding of building physics enabled the design team to maximise performance
Learning without limits – University of Cambridge Primary School
The UK’s first university training primary school – built for the University of Cambridge – incorporates a groundbreaking design that has created a space where learning has no limits. Liza Young talks to the design team
A lesson in Passivhaus – award-winning Wilkinson Primary School
Lessons learned from previous Passivhaus projects have earned Wilkinson Primary School energy reductions of around 90% compared with CIBSE benchmarks, plus a coveted CIBSE award. Andy Pearson reports
Horses for courses – services at the new Cheltenham Racecourse grandstand
M&E services in Cheltenham Racecourse’s new £45m grandstand had to be controlled zonally if parts of the building were to be hired out for weddings and other non-racing events. Luckily, the engineers didn’t fall at the first…
Max Fordham takes on Britain’s biggest Passivhaus
Camden’s Agar Grove estate is to become the UK’s biggest residential Passivhaus project. Max Fordham’s Bertie Dixon describes the challenges of building an 18-storey tower to the standard, and explains why the council is committed to the low energy code
Light and shade – Siemens Middle Eastern headquarters
Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, is designed to showcase green technologies in the Middle East. Andy Pearson looks at how the city’s masterplan helped determine Aecom’s passive-first strategy in this Leed Platinum exemplar scheme
Beyond Oil – Irena Headquarters Masdar
The headquarters for the International Renewable Energy Agency boasts a huge PV array – but the real talking point is the 50% reduction in energy demand achieved after extensive modelling from the outset
Guaranteed performance – Somerset House’s risk-free services retrofit
London’s Somerset House comes to life in winter. Its illuminated neoclassical façades form a sparkling backdrop to the open-air ice-rink that, each year, attracts thousands of pre-Christmas revellers. Until the end of the 20th century, it was a more austere place, housing many government departments, including the Inland Revenue. That changed in the 1990s, when […]