NEWS

This substantial project comprised a £12million teaching building that includes specialist science and learning support facilities as well as a science centre for gifted children from primary and secondary schools. With a total floor area of 5500 square metres, it was constructed in 2009 as a single phase, and occupied by the college from the beginning of 2010.

The building achieved a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating and utilises renewable heating technology in the form of air source heat pumps, a large rainwater cycling facility providing water for flushing WC’s and irrigation, solar hot water generation, large areas of glazing to provide maximum natural light solar shaded with louvres, passive stack ventilation to both the science laboratories and large central atrium,  self-controlled lighting systems that detect the ambient lighting conditions, daily PC alerts to teaching staff informing and advising them of the daily environmental conditions and the techniques to modify the particular environmental conditions of the individual teaching spaces. Through the inclusion of a weather station and large plasma displays in the atrium, providing information about the environmental performance of the building and educating people about the implications of their efficient use of the building, it has become a teaching tool in itself.