The Skills and Technology Centre at Newcastle-under-Lyme College won the 'BREEAM Further Education' award at the BREEAM Awards 2011 at Ecobuild, London on 2 March. The BREEAM Awards honour the most successful sustainable buildings in the industry.
The buildings shortlisted for the Awards were drawn from those achieving Excellent ratings under various BREEAM schemes during 2010. In order to win an award, each building must have excelled in every environmental category within BREEAM. Categories comprise: energy, materials, waste, water, ecology, pollution, transport, management, and health and wellbeing. Winners therefore represent a holistic approach to delivering environmental sustainability.
The Centre, which was constructed as part of the £60 million new college development, was certified ‘Excellent’ by the Building Research Establishment for its sustainable design, environmental performance and regard for occupiers’ health and wellbeing. This followed a post-construction review by Hoare Lea’s sustainability group.
BAM Construction was the contractor and NG Bailey undertook the MEP design. Assessors from Hoare Lea’s sustainability group provided specialist BREEAM design and assessment advice to the project team. The group carried out a review of the existing design and BREEAM pre-assessment; conducted an inspection of the constructed building; and provided strategic design advice in order to achieve the Excellent rating.
The Skills and Technology Centre provides state-of-the-art workshops for students studying construction and engineering courses, including brickwork, painting and decorating, electrical installation and joinery.
The building features a range of sustainable technologies including a rainwater harvesting system which captures water for use in the toilet flush systems within the building. Other technologies include: biodiesel fired boilers, energy efficient insulation, natural cooling, sensor taps in the bathrooms, short flush toilets and occupancy controlled automatic lighting.
Paragraphs 3, 5 & 6 courtesy of Newcastle-under-Lyme College
Client Newcastle-under-Lyme College
Contractor BAM Construction
Architect Ellis Williams Architects
MEP Consultants NG Bailey
BREEAM Assessor Hoare Lea
Paragraphs 3, 5 &6 courtesy of Newcastle-under-Lyme College
