Case Studies

Case Study- Houghton-Le-Spring Primary Care Centre

A new primary care development at Houghton-Le-Spring achieved a BREEAM 'Outstanding' at the design stage for best practice in sustainable design and environmental performance for buildings. Breathing Buildings played a crucial part in this via the low-carbon natural ventilation system developed for the project..

Key Message

Breathing Buildings instrumental in Health Centre design achieving BREEAM 'Outstanding' rating.

Introduction

Sunderland Primary Care Trust (PCT) at Houghton-Le-Spring has recently seen the completion of a development to provide a range of local healthcare services. The building includes large public spaces for a café and waiting areas, in addition to the patient and consulting rooms.

Working for the PCT, Breathing Buildings was asked to develop a design strategy for natural ventilation particularly of the public areas but also other spaces within the building. Following the completion of this initial stage, Breathing Buildings worked closely with the project team to design and deliver bespoke ventilation equipment.

The Challenge

• To maintain an interior temperature below 25°C
• To provide a low-carbon solution

An extremely challenging brief was given by the PCT, stating that the interior temperature is to remain below 25°C, for all but 100 hours per year in order to ensure patients are kept comfortable and in well ventilated conditions at all times. Traditionally, this would have been achieved through the use of mechanical ventilation and air conditioning. The objective of the design team here, however, was to create an innovative, low-carbon solution for summer cooling through the use of natural ventilation and thermal mass.

The Solution

Breathing Buildings designed a bespoke 50m long thermal wall, which was constructed along the spine of the building. This provides ventilation for the consultancy rooms as well as the open-plan waiting area and café. The wall is split into 49 individual shafts to separate the ventilation for individual spaces and therefore reduce the potential for infection transfer.

Natural Ventilation Delivered

In order to optimise both comfort and energy savings, different strategies have been applied for summer and winter ventilation.

In summer, the thermal wall is used to passively cool the incoming air. Cold air is drawn down the shafts into the wall during the night and the cooled shafts are then used to reduce the temperature of the warm outside air which is brought into the building the following day.

In winter, a mixing ventilation strategy is used involving six Breathing Buildings' unique e-stack R Series units within the open plan areas and café. Cold air is bought into the buildings from outside and is diluted with interior warm air within the buildings before it reaches the occupants.

Partnership

Andy Mackintosh, Director at Willmott Dixon, said:
"Willmott Dixon is delighted how the whole team has worked together to achieve BREEAM Outstanding. This is the first healthcare project in the UK to achieve BREEAM Outstanding."

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Monkseaton High School, Whitley Bay (Natural)

Schools present designers and developers with particularly challenging ventilation and noise attenuation issues. This is a highly specialised field in which the expertise of Breathing Buildings are widely recognised.

This is why Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the world’s leading planning, engineering, and construction management organisations, chose Breathing Buildings as partners on the Monkseaton High School development.

The Challenge

Monkseaton School is a four-storey building with the central atrium housing the sports hall, two gymnasiums, dining area, school hall and IT zones. Most of the classrooms are linked to the central atrium.

The challenges were to:

• effectively and efficiently ventilate the school
• meet BB101 summertime overheating criteria
• deliver fresh air and quiet so students can concentrate, meeting BB93
• ensure minimal energy consumption

Shaun Fitzgerald, Breathing Buildings Managing Director says: “We went to see Parsons Brinckerhoff. They pulled out the plans for the school and asked how would we ventilate it? We didn’t have the answers straightaway but we thought about it, told them what design work we needed to do and then invested time and effort upfront engineering our ideas.”

The Solution

The goal for Breathing Buildings was to offer a holistic ventilation and acoustic attenuation solution, drawing on their considerable consultancy experience and sector-leading knowledge. The initial work to find the optimum ventilation solution, involved in-depth flow modelling using laboratory analogue techniques to explore the various air flow regimes within the proposed building.

At this stage it became clear that a ventilation solution that met the BB101 summertime overheating criteria was also likely to result in the school having fewer than 40 hours a year above 28 Celsius and so qualify the building for an additional BREEAM point. This then became the goal.

To take account of the large glazed areas in the roof and façade, Breathing Buildings suggested adopting relatively large ventilation areas (45 square metres of free area), so the concept of these large glazed areas could be implemented.

Shaun says: “We did the mathematical modelling and the laboratory analogue water bath modelling, and came up with the specifications for the ventilation which Parsons Brinckerhoff put into their drawings.”

Natural Ventilation Delivered

In addition to the 22 classrooms linked to the atrium using Breathing Buildings A-Series units, bespoke units were designed and supplied by the Breathing Buildings Consultancy arm for those rooms with limited access to perimeter walls. Breathing Buildings S-1500 e-stack units were used in the roof to help the building ventilate.

Client Partnership

Shaun Fitzgerald says: “We take a very team-based approach. On this project we worked with Parsons Brinckerhoff and the school for something like three years from the initial design and development work, to coordinating with the contractor, commissioning the units and the school’s opening. We continue to monitor the system on-site and remotely. “If designers want to see us we would be delighted to discuss their projects and proud to take them to see the school. Monkseaton is a very big project but we are always happy to consult about any project, small or large.”

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Nuaire and Breathing Buildings offer complete ventilation solution for new technology campus (Mechanical)

Two of the ventilation industry’s leading names have collaborated to provide a complete package of natural and powered ventilation solutions for a new college campus in Dorset.

UK market leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of powered ventilation and air movement solutions, Nuaire, and natural ventilation expert’s Breathing Buildings, were appointed by Dorset County Council to provide ventilation technology to Budmouth Technology College’s new campus.

Incorporating both natural and mechanical ventilation solutions in the scheme, Nuaire and Breathing Buildings worked alongside Atkins and Interserve for Budmouth Technology College, on its newly constructed campus, spanning 12 acres and overlooking the village of Fleet on the Jurassic coast world heritage site. The state-of-the-art hi-tech campus encompassed lecture theatres, specialist suites for all subject areas, arts accommodation including 3D areas, dining and recreation halls, a 6th form centre, central resource centre and air conditioned ICT suites.

Designed by Dorset Building Design Practice and installed by Interserve mechanical ventilation in the main plants room areas, housed in the buildings’ roof voids. Stacked heat Xboxer heat recovery units were also chosen to aid ventilation in other areas including throughout the campus’ main corridors and science laboratories.

In addition constant pressure twin fans were used to provide an energy efficient central extract system, which will ventilate individual toilets with precision, depending on occupancy.

Matt Bray from Breathing Buildings said:  “We were given a specific design brief to equip the futuristic building on the new campus with technology which would help create a campus ambience, through both landscape spaces and remodeled recreation areas. The technology that we have supplied has met the initial design brief and has ensured that the campus will continue to benefit from sufficient ventilation all year around.”

The campus’ main Atria now houses the e-stack A series units, which will ensure that the entire Atria areas is effectively and efficiently ventilated. Each classroom on the new campus will utilise e-stack R series units, delivering fresh air efficiently and quietly to ensure that students and staff are not disturbed during lesson time.

Caroline Radcliffe, Commercial Product Manager at Nuaire, said: “By working alongside Breathing Buildings, we have ensured that the college is supplied with technology which will adequately and efficiently ventilate each area of the new campus, without requiring Budmouth to choose between natural or powered ventilation.”

Nuaire and Breathing Buildings now have a strategic alliance in what they believe to be the first collaboration of this kind, providing customers with an innovative range of both powered and natural ventilation systems.

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Manchester Schools Look to the Future for Clean Air Solutions (Mechanical)

Manchester-based consultants Beverley Clifton Morris (BCM) have designed the mechanical services on a project which will see the construction or refurbishment of a number of schools across the city for Manchester City Council.

The project, which was originally commissioned under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative, will enable Manchester City Council to upgrade and refurbish its secondary school building stock to help deliver high quality facilities and integrated information technology to its schools.

Whether an existing educational establishment is being refurbished or a brand new school is being built, the importance of creating a fresh, healthy and comfortable learning environment for the teachers and pupils cannot be underestimated. The quality of the air inside the school plays a key role in creating such an environment and so BCM’s recommendations on how to heat and ventilate the Manchester school buildings were critical.

Recognising the importance that air quality can play in improving the learning environment, Manchester City Council outlined very specific requirements for the ventilation systems to be installed in the new school buildings. The client was looking for units which could boast enhanced performance, reduced noise levels and take up as little space as possible.

BCM contacted Nuaire, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of energy efficient ventilation systems, who were able to adapt one of their existing specialist schools systems into a brand new product, the XBOXER 55.

The solution put forward by Nuaire, the XBOXER 55, exceeded all of the client’s stringent requirements.

While ventilation systems typically sit within the ceiling void of a building, this project design requires the units to be completely exposed so Nuaire adapted the finish of the unit to a gloss white to enhance the lighting levels and co-ordinate with the interior design of the classroom.

Alan Bingham, project manager at Manchester City Council, explained the importance of ensuring the best quality ventilation throughout the schools involved in this project.

“Issues concerning indoor air quality within schools are becoming increasingly important,” he said. “As well as constructing buildings that are environmentally sustainable, energy efficient and aesthetically pleasing, we were determined to create fresh, healthy and comfortable learning environments and we believe that the scheme that BCM has designed will do just that.”

Brian Morris, Managing Director of BCM, said this had been an exciting project to be involved with.

“We have been delighted to have the opportunity to work with Manchester City Council to deliver this landmark project. The programme of improvements will have a major impact on school buildings across the city, making them more sustainable, more energy efficient and much more conducive to a healthy working environment.

“Given the high standards that the initiative is looking to achieve, it was no surprise that the client has given us very stringent targets to meet. BCM has a radical approach to achieving commercially viable low carbon solutions. A key part of our role as consultants has therefore been to research carefully the various manufacturers for each element of the design and work closely with them to ensure adherence to those targets.

“We have worked closely with Nuaire, following a competitive process, to design a solution which fits our strategy for achieving Manchester’s challenging criteria. They are compact, quiet and energy efficient and meet all the necessary building regulations.”

This is the latest in a long line of schools projects for which Nuaire products have been specified. The company - which manufactures all its products out of its south Wales base and was the first UK ventilation company to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard - offers a wide range of ventilation products that have been specifically designed for schools and are suitable for a variety of applications, from classrooms and office areas to school halls and gymnasiums.

It boasts its own in-house Applications Engineering team which works in close partnership with its clients to ensure the best possible solution for their project and has even built a 30-seat mock classroom, incorporating the very latest ventilation technology, at its UK headquarters.

Designed to display and test its range of innovative school ventilation systems, the classroom is the only one of its kind among UK ventilation manufacturers.

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36,000 square foot Asda store (Natural)

Supermarkets and large retail outlets are notoriously difficult to ventilate effectively and economically, especially during colder months, as outside temperatures fall below 16 degrees C.

Asda turned to specialists Breathing Buildings to partner them in developing a ventilation solution for their new Langley Mill store that would effectively manage temperature fluctuations in colder weather, while also being able to cool the building on hot, windless days.

Langley Mill is a £25million development by Asda and the first UK store to operate the Breathing Buildings e-stack natural ventilation system which allows the use of natural ventilation even when outside temperatures are as low as 10degrees C.

The store has no air conditioning too – this is impressive!

The Challenge

Asda’s business model makes environmental considerations the priority and the retail giant’s environmental agenda includes:

• cutting greenhouse gas emissions
• ensuring new stores are 30per cent more energy efficient*
• ensuring existing stores are 20per cent more energy efficient*

The challenge for Breathing Buildings, working in close partnership with Asda, was to design a system that would not only deliver effective ventilation in a store with 36,000 square foot of sales space, but also meet Asda’s strict criteria for lower energy consumption, reduced carbon emissions and greater energy efficiency.

Shaun Fitzgerald, Breathing Buildings Managing Director says: “Asda had very clear environmental targets for Langley Mill and we met them at a very early stage of the design process.

“We modelled our ventilation system for the store early on and this showed that with our natural ventilation system, as opposed to a conventional mechanically ventilated system, Langley Mill would enjoy savings of up to approximately 110,000 kWh/year and as much as 150,000 kWh/year of gas.”

The Solution

Breathing Buildings offered a holistic ventilation solution, drawing on their considerable consultancy experience and sector-leading knowledge, featuring a range of measures that mean Langley Mill is 30per cent more energy efficient than a store of the same size built in 2005 (a result that meets Asda’s strategic requirements).

The ventilation system ensures that during the hottest summer months, even with no wind blowing, the system effectively ventilates and cools the building. However, it also allows the store to use natural ventilation as temperatures fall to as low as 10degrees C.

Natural Ventilation Delivered

The solution is delivered through the use of 12 Breathing Buildings e-stack units mounted on the roof of the Langley Mill store. By capturing and reusing the heat generated within the store by electrical equipment, lighting, ovens, chillers and freezers, and the body heat of staff and customers, the system significantly reduces the amount of pre-heating needed in the building, so cutting energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

With the store open for business an independent review of actual performance is ongoing and the building’s management system continuously monitors energy use and temperature.

Client Partnership

Dr. Shaun Fitzgerald, Managing Director of Breathing Buildings, says: “We take a very team-based approach and we are delighted to be forging the way ahead with Asda as they pioneer our unique system at Langley Mill.

“Supermarkets are open for many hours each week and they need to be confident in the systems they use. Natural ventilation is still regarded by many in this competitive sector as a relatively untried concept. However, we have found that many supermarkets want to secure for themselves the benefits of ultra low-energy ventilation.

“If designers want to see us we would be delighted to discuss their projects and proud to take them to see Langley Mill. The Asda store is a very big project but we are always happy to consult about any project, small or large.”

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Acoustic Attenuation