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…
Category: Case Studies
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 […]
The home of graphene
The first big breakthrough in graphene took place in Manchester, and now the city has a £61m facility aimed at developing the material for everyday use. CH2M Hill’s Ian MacAskill describes the challenge of designing services for the extraordinarily complex National Graphene Institute
No compromise – Passivhaus Enterprise Centre in Norwich
In aiming for Passivhaus the project team at the Enterprise Centre worked to the tightest of parameters leading to the use of 70% bio-based materials, a super-airtight envelope and minimal plug loads. Andy Pearson reports on the challenges involved
Light at the end of the tunnel
Endless corridors, dingy waiting rooms and basement treatment rooms will be a thing of the past at Guy’s new Cancer Centre when it opens in 2016. Liza Young finds out how innovative service design has helped to create a blueprint for modern cancer care buildings
Wimbledon ace
Mansel Court in south-west London is an exemplar office refurbishment that delivers comfort and energy savings for tenants, and potentially higher yields for investors. Alex Smith discovers that early input from building services engineer Skelly & Couch was key to its success
Leading man – the environmental strategy at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre
Four ventilation chimneys named John, Paul, George and Ringo are central to the environmental strategy at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, which wowed critics at the Stirling Prize. Andy Pearson reports from the front row