Buro Happold’s building services design optimises sustainable solutions
The recent official opening of Bristol Metropolitan College, the second of four schools to be completed under the Bristol Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, was marked by the unveiling of a plaque by two former students now in their eighties, and the new school’s two youngest students.
International engineering consultancy Buro Happold’s building services and environmental design team contributed to significant improvements beyond the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) guidelines, at the new state-of-the-art Bristol Metropolitan College. The project to deliver the secondary school, which caters for 1,080 pupils, was led by Skanska and designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects.
Many sustainable technologies have been incorporated into the college, including high levels of insulation to reduce heat loss and dependency on heating systems, and exposed thermal mass to reduce swings in temperature. Stack ventilation and controllable openings ensure comfortable conditions all year round, and minimal energy use. Biomass boilers provide the majority of space and water heating, and rainwater is recycled for flushing WCs. All of these initiatives help to optimise the comfort of the teaching facilities and also create a highly sustainable building.
Buro Happold Associate Director, Dr Mike Entwisle, said: “Bristol Metropolitan College shows that sustainable buildings needn’t cost the earth and can incorporate all aspects of design, from building form and window design through to the use of renewable energy. In this way, not only can the building be resilient to future changes in climate and use, but its environmental cost both now and in the future can be minimised.”
Launched in 2004, the government’s BSF initiative is an investment programme to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England. ICT forms a fundamental part of this investment, recognising technology as a vital tool to transform education.
Buro Happold is providing building services engineering for all four schools under the Bristol BSF initiative including Bristol Brunel Academy, also designed by Wilkinson Eyre, which was successfully completed and opened on 6 September last year. It involved the design and construction of a new academy to cater for 1,200 pupils aged 11 to 18. Work began on site in May 2006 and the college was handed over by Skanska to Bristol City Council on 14 August 2007. It replaced the adjoining Speedwell Technology College which has since been demolished.
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.
Ends
Project team:
Client: Skanska, a member of the first-ever local education partnership (LEP) with Bristol City Council and Partnerships for Schools
Architect: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Services provided by Buro Happold: Building services, building simulation, renewable energy, and fire engineering
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Buro Happold has over 20 years’ experience in the design of educational buildings, from primary and secondary schools to colleges and universities.
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976 offering civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, health and safety management, infrastructure and traffic engineering, ground engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational fluid dynamics analysis, inclusive design consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
The BSF programme will rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over the next 10 to 15 years, with an aim to raise educational attainment. It will promote better school design and re-organise secondary schooling to have the greatest positive effect on pupil achievement. BSF will also link with other funding to create greater community use of schools, providing increased opportunities for life-long learning.
