South Lanarkshire College Achieves BREEAM Outstanding

South Lanarkshire College Achieves BREEAM Outstanding

A new low carbon teaching building, which was the first to achieve an outstanding rating in the BREEAM new Construction assessment process, has been shortlisted in the prestigious BREEAM Awards 2016; which showcase some of the finest examples of sustainable buildings from around the world.

 

BREEAM is the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for master-planning projects, infrastructure and buildings. Globally, there are more than 500,000 BREEAM certified developments while more than 2.2 million buildings across 72 countries, have been registered for assessments, since it was launched in 1990.

 

The South Lanarkshire College Low Carbon Teaching Building, which was designed by architects, Austin-Smith:Lord from their Glasgow studio, has been deemed to excel in all ten categories under BREEAM which range from energy and waste, to health and well-being.

 

Catherine Cosgrove, lead architect says: “Our brief from South Lanarkshire College was a very simple one – to design a new eight classroom teaching building that achieved a BREEAM Outstanding rating. Construction is one of the three main departments within the College and the Client team wanted to experience every part of the design and construction of a low energy building. They intended to use the process as part of their teaching curriculum, something that worked well for them previously when they built a low energy exemplar house on the campus.

 

“Particular attention was paid to planning methods of post occupancy evaluation. Not only is this monitoring a requirement of the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ target but it can also be integrated into the construction curriculum. The intention is that the students will play an ongoing role in monitoring and assessing the performance of the building throughout its life. It is hugely rewarding to be involved in such an exemplary project which has education at its core.”

 

With BRE as a project partner, South Lanarkshire College initially developed a BREEAM pre-assessment for the project at inception stage and included this as part of the project brief. Austin-Smith: Lord, working with Will Rudd Davidson and Cundall, developed the design to meet these requirements and making best use of the natural resources of the site.

 

Using a fabric first approach to low energy design, the ground floor, external walls and roofs are highly insulated, along with all windows being triple glazed. All mechanical and electrical services use low energy fittings. The heating is provided by using a ground source heat pump, linked into an underfloor heating system. A photovoltaic array on the main roof provides 9.36 pkw of electricity. The amount of energy generated by the renewable technologies fully balances out the amount needed to run the building. A rainwater harvesting system was used to flush the toilets, along with low water use fittings. A SUDS drainage scheme for the car park allowed all BREEAM credits for water use, including the innovation credit, to be achieved.

 

Angus Allan Depute Principal of South Lanarkshire College said: “South Lanarkshire College has Sustainability as a key aim. All three of the college’s buildings on its campus have ground source heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to reduce the college’s reliance on energy production from fossil fuels. This new building takes the college a step forward. It has a highly-insulated shell, innovative solar chimneys for ventilation, rainwater harvesting for flushing toilets and a net-zero energy footprint. We are very pleased that it has been shortlisted for such a prestigious award.”

 

 

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