Berkeley Green Skills Centre in South Glos, England by Hewitt Studios LLP

Article source: Hewitt Studios LLP

Overview

Hewitt Studios LLP have recently completed the first phase of the conversion and refurbishment of a former nuclear research and engineering building at Berkeley Centre on the Severn Estuary in the UK.

The project provides South Gloucestershire and Stroud College with a renewable energy and engineering skills centre supported by both local enterprise funding and international technology partners, such as Schneider, Welink and Bosch.

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

• Architects: Hewitt Studios LLP
• Project: Berkeley Green Skills Centre
• Location: Berkeley, South Glos, England, UK
• Photography: Martin Cleveland and Paul Younger
  
• Software used: Vectorworks
• Client: South Gloucestershire and Stroud College
• Project Manager: Provelio
• QS: Mott MacDonald Ltd
• M&E Engineer: Hoare Lea
• Structural Engineer: O’Brien & Price Stroud Ltd
• Lighting Designer: The Lighthouse Design Partnership
• Main Contractor: Kier Cheltenham
• Contract Value: £3.2m
• Gross internal floor area: 4,500m²

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

The delivery of a reinvigorated, dynamic and sustainable facility is key to this offer – the building is designed to become an exemplar of regenerative investment and an education tool in its own right.

Elements of the building fabric will be used to deliver specific areas of curriculum (e.g. solar pv and timber construction), whilst the responsible re-use of an existing building sets a low-carbon precedent for future developments to follow.

Image Courtesy © Martin Cleveland

Image Courtesy © Martin Cleveland

The centre represents the first phase of the College’s ambitious plans to establish a sustainable science and technology park on the Berkeley Centre – to ‘put the region at the forefront of learning for the high technology, Sustainable energy and advanced manufacturing sectors within a new institute of technology’.

Image Courtesy © Martin Cleveland

Image Courtesy © Martin Cleveland

Timber Interventions

Steel would have been the obvious choice for the alterations to the existing structure, but Hewitt Studios chose a combination of Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) beams, glued-laminated (GLULAM) columns and cross-laminated (CLT) floors and balconies. This palette of pre-fabricated, sustainable and attractive timber products was assembled for a variety of reasons:

• It allowed for a rapid on-site build (important as the College had a limited window of construction opportunity) and limited the associated environmental disruption.

– It was effectively self-finished (with Class 0 clearcoat), requiring no additional lining or site-applied finishes.

– It gave the flexibility for services to be fixed anywhere, without the coordination issues normally associated with steelwork (welding of additional brackets, etc.)

– It is carbon-sequestering, with only PEFC / FSC certified timber from sustainably managed forests being used (along with formaldehyde-free adhesives). The timbers are also reusable, recyclable and easily disposable (as biomass fuel)

– It created a better environment than a steel-framed building; the surface quality is warmer / softer and the acoustics are superior, with improved reverberation times.

Image Courtesy © Paul Younger

Image Courtesy © Paul Younger

• It was cost-comparable with a conventional steel frame, once savings on preliminaries, secondary framing, linings and finishes were considered.
• It provided a dramatic contrast with the existing steel structure, allowing building users to instinctively read the building’s story, easily distinguishing between the original fabric and the new interventions.
• It has better thermal stability than steel, helping to mediate extremes of temperature when combined with the high thermal mass of the retained concrete floor.

Elsewhere, the design employs sustainable timber cladding, minimising waste through use of plywood in standard 1200mm sheets. Its distinctive pattern is based upon the dazzle camouflage of World War I warships. Rather than ‘daze and confuse’, it is here intended to reduce the visual mass of the lower levels of accommodation. It is also perforated and backed with acoustic material to suppress reverberation within the main hall.

Image Courtesy © Paul Younger

Image Courtesy © Martin Cleveland

Sustainable Initiatives

As a new facility for the renewable energy industry, environmental performance is very important and key sustainability measures include:

• An integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) facade, which will be installed shortly. This will not only generate electricity, but will shade the glazing behind from the southern sun and act as a wind-break in the exposed estuary location. It will use the latest generation thin-film solar cells which offer a cost-effective power output (c.100kW) and good low-light performance.
• A thermally efficient envelope, with u-values in excess of Building Regulations standards.
• An innovative ventilation system, with integrated heat recovery.
• A dramatic, low-energy LED lighting design.
• Low-impact timber interventions, as described above.

Image Courtesy © Paul Younger

Hewitt Studios are also developing plans for a site-wide renewables package with the ultimate aim of becoming a zero-carbon campus. This includes a government-backed solar at scale scheme (with building, car park and ground mounted pvs), tidal power, wind generation and battery storage. Impact will be minimised with significant areas of habitat creation (supported by the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust) and a comprehensive green transport strategy including a cross-campus electric minibus infrastructure.

The result will be an exciting new hub for the sustainable energy industry; raising aspirations, attracting young people to stem careers and providing skilled people to fill the technology skills shortage, all within a sustainable and low-impact environment.

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

Image Courtesy © Hewitt Studios LLP

Tags: England, South Glos

Categories: Educational Center, Vectorworks

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