Sustainability Leaders Awards 2013
42/44
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
Finalists:
Kirklees College –
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Challenged to reduce space,
cut costs and promote
sustainable development,
the design team at Parsons
Brinckerhoff used the
reclamation of the nearby
Huddersfield Canal as a
natural heat sink for the
college. Water is pumped in
for the cooling system and
the resulting heat is rejected
into the canal. The result is a
reduction in gross floor area
by reducing major plant space,
lower construction costs and
significant lifecycle carbon,
energy and cost savings (up
to 35%).
Larkfleet PassiveHouse
Larkfleet
Homes
has
developed a prototype house,
designed and constructed
using lightweight materials
and off-site construction
techniques, which it claims
could "revolutionise the
construction
industry".
As well as lower carbon
emissions – both in
construction and use – the
house can also be "flood
resistant" with hydraulic
jacks used to raise the
building above water levels.
Researching the potential for
this to be achieved at scale is
the next stage of the project.
UK Energy Partners
Who said green buildings
were expensive? UK Energy
Partners have combined
existing high quality building,
energy conservation and
renewable
technologies
to deliver a new kind of
affordable school building:
Schoolhaus at Moreton Hall
School in Bury St Edmunds.
Delivered at £800 per square
metre (half the price of using
traditional materials and
processes), it has an A+ energy
performance certificate and
with air source heat pumps
and mechanical ventilation
and heat recovery, costs just
£3 per square metre per year
to heat. Go straight to the
top of the (sustainable school
building) class.
University of Nottingham
Laboratories can be energy
guzzlers – even those that
have been built to research
energy efficiency. But the
University of Nottingham's
Energy Technology Building
changes this as the world's
first operational, zero carbon
lab. As well as the usual
energy efficiency kit, it also
features the first ever gridconnected 'universal flexible
power management system' –
the key enabling technology
for the EU's smart grid.
