Kevin McCloud praises Buro Happold’s environmentally friendly solutions
Grand Designs TV presenter Kevin McCloud joined students, staff and governors of Brislington Enterprise College in celebrating the official opening of their brand new building on Friday 7 November 2008. The well-known designer and Tim Byles, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Schools, unveiled a plaque marking completion of the building.
Two Year 11 students, Alice Lamb, aged 15, and Lily Bland, 16, took Kevin on a tour of the college. He was shown some of its ‘learning communities’ – a series of seven ‘mini-schools’ that make up the college.
At the opening ceremony, he told guests and students that the new college “knocks me back”, adding: “It’s a great building that works really well and is facilitating the learning and lives of those who use it.”
Buro Happold’s building services design to cut emissions by 85%
Designed by architects FLACQ in collaboration with Wilkinson Eyre and international multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy Buro Happold, the College is built to high environmental standards. The building services design, by Buro Happold, includes a biomass heating system burns wood chips to heat the building and provide hot water, reducing resultant carbon emissions by 85%. Kevin McCloud took a particular interest in the biomass boiler as he has one in his Somerset farmhouse.
Natural ventilation is maximised with windows drawing in fresh air that rises through chimneys and leaves via louvres on the roof. The building makes maximum use of natural lighting to reduce electricity use and resulting carbon emissions, and rainwater is recycled to flush toilets.
Brislington Enterprise College is the first ‘schools within a school’ design to open under the BSF programme. It aims to become an exemplar site for e-learning (electronic learning) too. At the heart of the new building is the Enterprise Learning Centre, 500 square metres packed with computers and other electronic learning equipment.
During construction of the new college, the local community had the chance to see the building at a series of open days that were well attended by parents and children. A group of students also had a week’s work experience with Skanska’s site team and learned about all aspects of the construction industry.
John Matthews, Principal of Brislington Enterprise College, said it had taken a four-year journey of transformation to not just achieve the new building but also introduce a new model of education, with the new college designed as a series of ‘schools within a-school’.
“What we are now seeing are confident, enthusiastic young people who feel proud of their college and have pride in themselves,” he said.
Brislington Enterprise College has also been shortlisted for two ‘Excellence in BSF’ awards: Best Design for a New School, and Best School Team.
Project team:
Client: Bristol Local Education Partnership
Architect: FLACQ/Wilkinson Eyre
Buro Happold services: Building services engineering
Main contractor: Skanska
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Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976. We now employ over 1,700 staff in 21 offices worldwide, and our aim is to produce high quality engineering design in concept, in detail and in execution, on time, to programme and delivering excellent value for money. Our distinctive culture and ethos is still based on the same principles of care, value and elegance that were established when the practice was founded.
We offer structural, building services, civil, infrastructure and façade engineering, as well as a broad range of specialist consultancy services including sustainability, ground and environmental engineering, fire and security design, health and safety management, inclusive and urban design, project management, and specialist CAD and computer simulation provision.
Bristol LEP
• Bristol Local Education Partnership (LEP) was the first in the country created under Building Schools for the Future. BSF is the largest single schools capital investment programme for over 50 years. BSF will provide world-class teaching and learning environments for all pupils, teachers and communities in England.
• Bristol LEP (www.bristollep.co.uk) is a 10-year partnership between Bristol City Council, Partnerships for Schools – the delivery body for BSF – and Skanska, one of the world’s leading construction groups.
• As well as completing Brislington Enterprise College, Bristol Brunel Academy and Bristol Metropolitan College, the LEP is also developing the Bridge Learning Campus. This will replace Hartcliffe Engineering Community College and Teyfant Community School when it opens in January 2009.
• Total construction value of the four schools is approximately £120 million and the operating contract is for 25 years.
• Designed by award-winning Wilkinson Eyre Architects, the schools represent the best in innovative environments for learning. International multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, Buro Happold, has provided building services engineering, and Grant Associates were landscape architects. The managed ICT service is provided by Northgate Information Solutions.