Energy efficiency and educational excellence
Wiltshire College Redevelopment
Wiltshire, UK
Project details
Client
Wiltshire College
Architect
Atkins, Walters and Webster
Duration
2013 – 2015
Services provided by Buro Happold
Wiltshire College wanted to create a new facility at its Chippenham campus that would provide students with a state of the art learning environment and support plans for economic growth in the town. Dedicated to vocational training and apprenticeships, the £21 million building houses workshops and vocationally tailored spaces, as well as simulated work environments.
Challenge
As well as creating an exemplary educational facility for students and staff, our client wanted to ensure the new Wiltshire College campus building attained a BREEAM Excellent rating for its low energy credentials. A key concern in achieving this was ensuring that rooms were not lit or heated when they weren’t in use.
Solution
Our building services engineers developed energy efficient strategies within our building serviced design to ensure it aligned with the college’s ambitious sustainability objectives. These features include 350 m2 of roof-mounted PV solar panels for on site energy generation, a ground source heat pump, and 100% LED lighting throughout the building.
We responded to our client’s aim to minimise energy waste with a bespoke building management system (BMS) that links the college room booking system with the timetable to ensure that heating and cooling resources focus only on rooms that are in use.
Value
The new centre is built with contemporary needs in mind, and also the flexibility to adapt to meet the requirements of future generations of students at Wiltshire College. As well as providing an exemplary learning and teaching facility, our energy efficient engineering strategies helped the project achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating.
