PSBJ July 2023

Public Sector Build Journal July 2023

Healthcare

Education

Leisure

psbjmagazine.com

Issue 131

OPEN-ACCESS UNIVERSITY FOR LOCAL COMMUNITY A new chapter for Peterborough as MCW-designed university campus opens

Housing

Showcasing efficient fenestration design in the healthcare sector

The funding streams available to keep leisure facilities active

Why flat roofs can have the edge on pitched roof design

Power to your procurement

Let's create vibrant and sustainable communities together Our team can provide procurement advice, guidance, and expertise to help local authorities with regeneration and place-making.

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WELCOME NOTE

Editor

Hannah Woodger

hannah@redhutmedia.com

Rebecca Kemp

rebecca@redhutmedia.com

Print & Digital Advertising Sam Ball

sam@redhutmedia.com

Jim Moore

jim@redhutmedia.com

The UK’s newest university, ARU Peterborough with its signature building, ‘University House’, has opened, catering to the economic needs of the regional town. See page 22.

Print Design Manager Jack Witcomb

Welcome to the July issue of PSBJ...

Digital Design Manager

In a post-COVID era, the value placed on health and wellbeing is still high in the public’s consciousness. Coupled with the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, regular access to exercise and leading an active lifestyle has far-reaching benefits, proven to relieve stress and improve mental health. However, whilst the demand for leisure facilities continues to be great, the energy crisis has meant many providers are being forced to close or reduce services, unable to feasibly afford the high running costs.

jack@redhutmedia.com

Matt Morse

matt@redhutmedia.com

Accounts

Rachel Pike

accounts@redhutmedia.com

Sales Support & Statistics

Klare Ball

According to UK Active, from October last year there have been around 350 facilities nationally that have seen service restrictions or temporary and permanent closures – since this research was gathered, that figure is likely to have risen.

klare@redhutmedia.com For those that have remained operating, which ones have seen a reduction in user satisfaction? Cold swimming pools do not make for an enjoyable experience, which sadly sees visitor numbers fall.

Publisher Sam Ball

sam@redhutmedia.com Published by

Red Hut Media Ltd. 5 Mansion Row, Brompton, Kent, ME7 5SE

psbjmagazine.com 01622 946150 redhutmedia.com

In this month’s issue, we put leisure facilities centre stage. Powerstar’s Dean Hogg looks at two funding streams available for support, and offers advice on technologies that can help decarbonise and make the most of ever-tighter budgets. Turn to page 18 to learn more. Meanwhile, Morgan Sindall explores how leisure centres can be a catalyst for the regeneration of town centres. Using its latest Marina Centre project as an example, Morgan Sindall Construction’s Eastern Counties Area Director, Alister Broadberry, discusses how designing, building and operating a leisure centre that provides all the required health facilities while aligning with the location’s aesthetics, infrastructure and local community demand can pay exceptional dividends for the local economy and tourism all year round. Turn to page 08 to read more.

Elsewhere in this issue, CIBSE details the winner of the Domestic Project of the Year in its annual Building Performance Awards, Boyer discusses the increasing preference for natural public spaces over landscaped public spaces and SAS highlights the importance of efficient fenestration design in the healthcare sector.

PSBJ is a proud supporter of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists.

Contributions are invited and when not accepted will be returned only if accompanied by a fully stamped and return addressed envelope. No responsibility will be taken for drawings, photographs or literary contributions during transmission or in the editor's hands. In the absence of an agreement the copyright of all contributions, literary, photographics or artistic belongs to Red Hut Media Ltd. The Publisher accepts no responsibility in respect of advertisements appearing in the magazine and the opinions expressed in editorial material or otherwise do not necessarily represent the view of the publisher. The Publisher does not accept any liability of any loss arising from the late appearance or non publication of any advertisement.

I hope you enjoy this issue. Don’t forget, you can also access the magazine’s features, product news and supplier information on PSBJ’s user-friendly and engaging website.

Fully responsive, the website allows you to read all the latest stories on-the-go either on your phone or tablet. Simply visit www.psbjmagazine.com.

Hannah

Hannah Woodger • Editor • hannah@redhutmedia.com Find us on Social Media:      @psbjmagazine

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CONTENTS

06 News

A round up of the latest industry news, including charity events, awarded contracts, completed projects and much more.

08 Upfront

Morgan Sindall Construction’s Eastern Counties Area Director, Alister Broadberry, discusses how leisure centres can be a catalyst for regeneration and levelling up.

12 Housing

Swansea Council and the Welsh School of Architecture have won the Domestic Project of the Year category at this year’s CIBSE Building Performance Awards for an energy-efficient retrofit of six bungalows.

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14 Legal & Business

18 Leisure

22 Education

16 Drainage & Landscaping

20 Glass & Glazing

24 Healthcare

With PFI and PPP contracts set to expire, Faithful+Gould warns that action is needed now to ensure the assets set to be returned to public ownership are in appropriate condition.

Grant Leggett, Executive Director of Boyer, discusses the increasing preference for natural public spaces over landscaped public spaces in today’s urban design.

Powerstar’s Head of Sales, Dean Hogg, looks at two funding streams available for supporting leisure centres, in the face of decarbonisation targets and evertighter budgets.

Senior Architectural Systems discusses how the latest innovations in fenestration can give refurbished hospitals and other healthcare facilities a much-needed energy boost.

The UK’s newest university, ARU Peterborough with its signature building, ‘University House’, designed by architect firm MCW, has opened, marking a new chapter for the city.

Nathalie Meunier at Premier Modular offers three healthcare building trends, gathering insights from Premier’s work with NHS trusts – using King’s College Hospital as an example.

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CONTENTS

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24

26 Timber

30 High-Rise Buildings

34 Technical Focus

28 Renewable Technology

32 Talking Point

36 Product Showcase

David Hopkins, Chief Executive of Timber Development UK, discusses the benefits of timber frame housing in helping to solve the housing crisis in a sustainable manner.

Simon Briggs, Energy Lead at construction partner Stepnell, believes that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to making the public sector’s building stock more efficient.

Simon Dunstan, Director at GT3 Architects, discusses the future of public sector workplaces and how working practices have changed infrastructure.

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In both residential and commercial building design, James Wilinson, Design Team Manager at Gradient, explains why flat roofs sometimes have the edge on pitched roof design.

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NEWS

INDUSTRY UPDATES Each month, PSBJ rounds up the latest public sector construction updates, from new contracts to industry awards.

Latest St Helens town centre New homes for transformation plans revealed Cambridgeshire’s newest town

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Art and design ideas that reflect the proud heritage, buildings and features to be enjoyed by children and families, and high ambitions for the future are at the heart of plans to revitalise St Helens town centre, according to the team behind the proposals. St Helens Borough Council and its project partner the English Cities Fund (ECF) are committed to transforming the town centre, with a genuine sense of place and pride restored. Jon Matthews Architects has created the masterplan and detailed design of the three central areas in proposals for the first phase of regeneration, which members of the public can view as part of a new community consultation. They are based around a stunning new market hall that will feature approximately 23 stalls, food and beverage outlets, a bar and performance area, along with a range of other amenities to encourage and cater for visitors through the daytime and evenings. Outside the market hall will be space for play and child-focused street furniture. The market hall will be flanked by a mixed-use area set around a 150-bedroom hotel, 64 homes and 10,915ft2 modern retail space, along with a new 49,670ft2 sustainable office building. The design of each of the new buildings has drawn inspiration from St Helens’ past, with architectural glass, for instance, a key feature within the market mall. Art installations that celebrate the town’s history, ingenuity and individuality will also feature in recessed sections of the ground-floor exterior wall of the hotel.

National homebuilder Keepmoat has marked the start on site for 300 new homes at Northstowe, Cambridgeshire’s newest town.

Following completion of a building lease with Homes England, construction is starting at Stirling Fields, with the housing stock consisting of one- and two-bedroom apartments, alongside a selection of two-, three- and four-bedroom homes. A full range of tenures are available on the 300 homes, 60% of which are affordable homes including affordable rent, discounted market sale and traditional market sale, to provide a balanced community. Graham Hyslop, Regional Director for Homes England, said: “This is another step forward for Northstowe as more homes are started across Homes England’s land on this flagship development. This current milestone contributes towards building the community of Northstowe, which in total will see more than 10,000 homes, eight schools, a new town centre with multiple facilities and open spaces provided. We are looking forward to seeing the community grow further and more people calling Northstowe, home.” The sustainable development supports a low-carbon community lifestyle and Keepmoat is building the homes using closed-panel timberframe construction, while the apartments will be constructed traditionally in a brick and block cavity walling.

New council homes get thumbs up from tenants

Accelerate net zero with CCS’ new agreement

Tenants have been moving into new housing built by Renfrewshire Council as part of the ongoing community-led regeneration of Paisley’s Ferguslie Park area. The 101 modern new-build, energy-efficient homes are being built on the site of the former St Fergus Primary School in Ferguslie.

Tenants have been moving in since January, with 64 homes now handed over, and work on the new development is due to be complete this month.

Most of the new tenants have moved across from the nearby Tannahill area, next to St Mirren’s SMISA Stadium, where the outdated blocks are being demolished, allowing that area to be redeveloped over the next few years as part of a wider community-led masterplan. The majority of the new homes are council owned, with a small number being sold to owners within the Tannahill regeneration area through the Scottish Government’s New Supply Shared-Equity scheme. The main contractor on the building project is Glasgow-based housebuilder AS Homes. Kieran Sexton, Commercial Director at AS Homes Scotland, said: “It’s great to hear our new homes in Ferguslie Park have been so well received by tenants.

Working in partnership with Renfrewshire Council, we’re thrilled to help fulfil this need within the local community by delivering a mix of house types and sizes to meet current and future housing needs within this area.”

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has awarded a new Demand Management and Renewables Agreement (RM6314), which aims to accelerate the UK’s net-zero goals by helping improve the public sector’s energy consumption and efficiency. This new framework is one of two replacements for the current Heat Network and Electricity Generation Assets (HELGA) DPS Agreement. The other replacement is Demand Management and Renewables DPS Agreement (RM6313). The new Demand Management and Renewables Agreement (DMR) provides a route to market for all UK public sector organisations to support their decarbonisation strategies. It is the first traditional framework within CCS’ wider construction and decarbonisation offering. The new agreement builds on the progress in helping hundreds of public sector customers, putting energy efficiency and renewable power at its centre. The agreement will support customers within the following five energy efficiency areas, including: Lot 1 – solar photovoltaic projects; Lot 2 – battery energy storage; Lot 3 – heat pump projects (air source and ground source); Lot 4 – heat network (design and build) and Lot 5 – carbon net-zero/sustainability consultancy.

NEWS

Morgan Sindall Construction tops out at one of first net-zero schools in UK Willmott Dixon Interiors Morgan Sindall Construction’s Northern Home Counties business to deliver DfE’s Sanctuary has held a topping-out ceremony at the Buntingford First School, marking an exciting milestone for Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) Buildings refurbishment and Scholars Education Trust in delivering one of the region’s and country’s first carbon-neutral schools. The event included speeches from Councillor Caroline Clapper and Councillor Duncan Wallace from Hertfordshire County Council before a guided site tour for all attendees and a reception at the Bury Clubhouse. Other guests on the day included Morgan Sindall Construction’s Northern Home Counties Area Director, David Rowsell, and Deputy CEO of Scholars’ Education Trust, Matt Gauthier. Scheduled to open in 2023, Buntingford First School was procured through the Pagabo framework and will be one of the first net-zero schools – in both embodied and operational carbon – in the UK. In line with Hertfordshire County Council’s sustainability strategy and ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030, it is set to achieve Passivhaus Plus, meaning it will improve the school’s air quality, reduce carbon emissions and lower its energy running costs. Aligned with Morgan Sindall’s Intelligent Solutions approach, the design also utilises a cross-laminated timber (CLT) frame, meaning for every metre cubed of it, two tonnes of carbon is saved. On completion, the frame is set to be responsible for saving 1160 tonnes of carbon, as well as reducing construction traffic by 90% and savings of 20%.

Pick Everard seals £120m Scottish framework appointments Extending its multi-disciplinary services across Scotland, Pick Everard has successfully been appointed to two leading national frameworks at a combined value of £120m. The move sees the firm join one of the largest public sector consultancy framework contracts in the country, strengthening its capabilities within Scotland’s construction sector.

Supporting regional economic growth, Pick Everard will operate across a four-year term on Scotland Excel’s Building Construction Consultancy Framework. With a total value of £100m, the framework directly serves local Government need via a platform funded by Scotland’s 32 local authorities. The move coincides with its appointment to six lots of the Scottish Police Authority’s Estates Professional Services Framework, which will last for two years, with the option to extend for a further two periods of up to 12 months in duration. Patricia Ward, Strategic Development Manager at Pick Everard, said: “These are both significant framework awards for our Scottish offices, which coincide with considerable pressures for local authorities and the public sector, amidst the cost-of-living crisis and tightening budgets. Our appointment is intended to help relieve some of that pressure, combining our pool of expertise via a streamlined method of distribution that makes procurement quick, simple and easy to move from appointment to delivery to completion.”

Fit-out and refurbishment specialist contractor Willmott Dixon Interiors has been chosen to lead the refurbishment of the Grade II Listed Sanctuary Buildings in London. The Department for Education (DfE) has appointed the contractor to deliver the phased CAT B fit-out of 12,850m2 across floors of the property in Victoria. The project has been designed to create a more modern, sustainable and streamlined office environment, which reflects the department’s adoption of hybrid working practices.

Willmott Dixon Interiors will deliver collaborative and open-plan workspaces, including hot-desking facilities and staff breakout areas, as well as new meeting rooms with state-of-the-art conferencing technology. The design is characterised by its focus on diversity and inclusion, with features that directly cater for those with sensory, cognitive, physical or developmental needs.

They include the availability of sensory spaces, improved lighting and acoustic properties and a muted colour palette. Existing plant facilities will be upgraded as part of DfE’s decarbonisation agenda, while the infrastructure will be put in place to support the future use of photovoltaic solar panelling. Works will be carried out in a live environment, with staff decanted to alternative floors during separate phases of the project. The project is expected to be completed by autumn 2024.

New leisure and learning hub breaks ground Alliance Leisure has started work on a multi-million-pound development to improve leisure and learning opportunities for residents in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire. To mark the occasion, a group of stakeholders, partners and the local community came together to officially break ground at the construction site. A new 3000m² leisure and learning hub, made possible by a £14m investment from Towns Funding, will replace the existing Station Sports Centre, adding a six-lane, 25m swimming pool and changing village, a gym and fitness studio as well as a TAGactive indoor adventure play area and outdoor play facilities. In addition, the site will incorporate a digital inclusion learning centre to enable people of all ages to upskill through access to information and distance learning courses. This will be supported by a series of dedicated meeting rooms and a large cafe area to encourage social interactions. The multi-functional community development, designed by lead architect firm, Pozzoni, will be managed by Alliance Leisure through the UK Leisure Framework, owned and managed by Denbighshire Leisure, with ISG named as principle build contractor.

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UPFRONT

HOW LEISURE CENTRES CAN BE A CATALYST FOR REGENERATION Morgan Sindall Construction’s Eastern Counties Area Director, Alister Broadberry, reflects on how investing in a leisure centre can boost a number of key regeneration and levelling-up objectives, ranging from improving health and wellbeing levels, making sport more inclusive, increasing footfall for nearby businesses and improving the town’s aesthetics.

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Morgan Sindall, we’ve seen how A tlarge-scale leisure centre projects

Attracting people, businesses and investment

can sit in the middle of this overlapping Venn diagram of local authority priorities.

However, designing, building and operating a leisure centre that provides all the required health facilities while aligning with the location’s aesthetics, infrastructure and local community demand is no easy feat.

The complexity of this challenge, as well as the benefits that can be obtained, was illustrated recently at the new Marina Centre in Great Yarmouth. This £26m facility replaced its 1980s-built predecessor, which was well loved but just wasn’t fit for purpose anymore.

The centre now boasts two swimming pools (one competition standard and one with a moveable floor), and leisure water area including splash play and flumes, as well as a climbing wall zone, four-court sports hall, spin studio, large gym, studios and a cafe that overlooks the pool and nearby beach. As part of the project, the team also built a new 200-space car park, giving the centre an extra 100 spaces.

The scheme is literally built on the beach, and along with its curtain walling it provides panoramic views of the area. Its design allows people to walk seamlessly through the centre from the beach, whether they are using the main facilities or not – making it a more integral part of how residents and tourists move around the town and the coastline.

From the outset, the replacement of the Marina Centre was meant to play a key part in Great Yarmouth’s regeneration plans by strengthening its year-round economic resilience. Like many coastal towns, Great Yarmouth is keen to regain the popularity it enjoyed during the last century and capitalise on UK families rediscovering the joys of staycations – as it is in the seasonal effects of the tourism industry that the town can go from booming to sleeping.

The Marina Centre was, therefore, designed to deliver experiences that would extend beyond its boundaries and benefit the whole coastal front. It would do this by offering a wide range of exciting and accessible facilities as well as by creating a literal connection between the beach and Great Yarmouth’s ‘golden mile’.

This ambition and its outcome was summed up by Sheila Oxtoby, CEO of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, when she said: “When we started on this project, we knew we wanted the new leisure centre to meet the health needs of local people while simultaneously helping Great Yarmouth attract tourists all year round. This was no easy balance but is one I’m delighted to say has been achieved thanks to a great design and operational management, both of which have been tailored to the site, our community and the future of the town.

“The result is a really stunning building, and its popularity is apparent when you speak to residents and visitors who look

at it and go “wow, I want to go in there!”

People see the flumes and think, ooh, that looks fun. And that’s what it’s all about – we want people to come here, have a great time and, in doing so, boost their health and wellbeing. This shows how the two objectives go hand in hand as, thanks to this appeal, the centre is already fulfilling our ambition of Great Yarmouth being a destination town regardless of the season.”

To achieve this, funding was delivered by the council themselves, drawn in part from a successful £20.1m Towns Fund bid. The project also saw further injections of £2.5m from the Government’s Getting Building Fund, via New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, £1.6m from Sport England and £500,000 from Pooled Business Rates.

Since opening in August 2022, some significant returns have already been generated on this investment. The centre has seen over 154,000 individual users, with 20,000 additional people using the cafe and even more going to the centre for access to the amphitheatre seating and its stunning seaside views.

This popularity is having a direct impact on the surrounding businesses and overall appeal of the town, with recent surveys showing that it has helped boost footfall along the coastline by 20% compared to pre-pandemic figures. This is a great indication that the centre, which is not even one year old, is already achieving its goal of helping Great Yarmouth become an all-yearround destination.

UPFRONT This economic benefit is in addition to the fact that 75% of the project’s supply chain was drawn from SME companies in Great Yarmouth during the centre’s construction.

Healthier lives and happier communities Improved wellbeing levels was another target area for the council, with obesity, particularly in children, being one of their biggest challenges.

To ensure that it would help as many people as possible, the council looked at what was happening in other parts of the country during the concept design stage and adjusted plans to reflect these lessons. For example, by working closely with the operators, they made sure the pricing was right, so that along with accessible and inclusively-designed facilities, it wasn’t pricing local residents out. They continue to monitor this and are offering free swimming lessons for children at the centre.

Leisure centres obviously have direct health benefits, but this type of development can also improve wellbeing in other ways, such as helping people learn new skills, boosting their careers and by enhancing local areas.

At Morgan Sindall, we always strive to maximise the social value that our projects can deliver and during this project we generated more than £23m of social value through work experience and apprenticeships, community volunteer projects, charitable work and positive sustainability initiatives. The team that worked on the project were all local and this scheme directly impacted them. So much so, that many returned in the summer to help build a series of communal gardens. 

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Building for the long term Designing and constructing a facility that delivered all the above was no simple task. For starters, it had to look interesting and be aesthetically sympathetic to its surroundings. Saunders Boston Architects achieved this by designing a building with a striking shape and multiple levels as well as a curved glass facade along the side facing the sea.

The reality of building on the coast also presented several construction challenges. This included the specification and treatment of materials for a marine environment, getting the waterproof concrete for the pools right and dealing with the high ground water table that sits beneath the building.

Internally, aggressive chlorine-laden air could become a problem for building components unless protected. This saw the building’s ‘wet’ area, with the pools, and the ‘dry’ side, with all the other facilities, separated by a membrane consisting of a sheet pile wall that wraps around the building and houses the three pools and the basement containing the filtration systems.

The development was also considerate of the surrounding facilities, as illustrated by the fact that the piling strategy was designed around the needs of the marine life in the nearby SeaLife centre.

Building on success Thanks to this hard work, the Marina Centre can now act as a lynchpin within Great Yarmouth’s future refurbishments and community-level upgrades – proving that these schemes work and making a strong argument to double down on local regeneration.

A strategic series of interventions and developments in the pipeline will keep this momentum going. This includes Great Yarmouth recently securing £13.7m from the Future High Streets Fund to rejuvenate the town centre as an economic, cultural and community hub. In addition, the £10m redevelopment of Great Yarmouth’s Winter Gardens looks set to reimagine the iconic landmark and turn it into another year-round visitor attraction.

Sport is often held up as an inspirational ideal, an activity that empowers us to improve and fulfil our potential. At the Great Yarmouth Marina Centre, we’ve seen how leisure centres can extend this transformative power to not just the people using their services – but to the communities and towns in which they’re based. 

www.morgansindallconstruction.com

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HOUSING

REDUCING THE CARBON IMPACT OF HOUSING Swansea Council and the Welsh School of Architecture won the Domestic Project of the Year category at this year’s CIBSE Building Performance Awards for an energy-efficient retrofit of six bungalows. Juliet Rennie of CIBSE explains how the team set about the work and why the methodology is relevant to other energy-inefficient homes. residential projects go, A stheretrofit results are exceptional: carbon emissions down 94%; Energy Performance Certificate rating up from G (the worst) to A (the best); and Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating up from 12 to 95.

This impressive outcome is the result of a collaboration between Swansea Council and Cardiff University’s Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) on a project to retrofit six retirement bungalows. This outstanding scheme won Project of the Year – Domestic at this year’s Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Building Performance Awards. The judges said the project “will have farreaching impacts in Wales and beyond”.

The terrace of six council bungalows selected for this project are representative of many Welsh homes in that they are off the gas grid and have been constructed with poorly-insulated windows, walls and roofs, making them expensive to heat.

Consequently, many of the homes also had damp and mould problems.

This project builds on WSA’s learning from earlier residential projects where it developed its holistic approach to delivering retrofits as opposed to focusing on improvements to individual elements.

Professor Joanne Patterson, Professorial Research Fellow at WSA, terms this “a

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whole-house approach”. She says its success depends on data-driven decision making.

The starting point for the bungalows’ retrofit is what Patterson calls a Practical Retrofit Early Stage Survey. Developed by the WSA, this is a formalised way of collecting accurate data from each dwelling.

The survey helps the school understand how residents use their homes, which then informs its choice of retrofit measures.

In addition to questioning the residents, the WSA also undertook comprehensive preretrofit monitoring of the building fabric.

This included airtightness testing, U-value measurements and thermal imaging to help identify problems with the building fabric that would also need to be addressed.

The decision-making process is supported by thermal and energy modelling of each home. This enabled different combinations of retrofit measures to be tested and the energy use and carbon emissions to be assessed for each mix.

Using the monitored data, the WSA first set about reducing the bungalows’ fabric energy demand before maximising the use of renewable technologies. The school’s approach is to use efficient and replicable solutions to help the local authority in its drive towards zero carbon.

The teams from Swansea Council and WSA worked with the residents and their

supply chain to plan, design and enable installation of the proposed measures while the residents remained in place. To minimise disruption, it was decided to undertake the retrofit work over two phases. Fabric efficiency improvements, which included external wall insulation, a reduction in the glazed area and installation of highspecification, double-glazed windows and the addition of loft insulation, took place over the winter of 2018/19.

Installation of the energy supply and storage technologies took place the following year. These interventions included installation of an electric ground-source heat pump (GSHP) in each dwelling along with photovoltaic panels and a large battery to store surplus electricity generated by the PVs. The properties were also fitted with a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) system to provide constant energy-efficient ventilation.

To ensure interventions performed as intended, residents were given a simple user guide. Swansea Council’s energy manager also spent time explaining the technologies to the residents. In addition, post-retrofit monitoring by the WSA ensured the technologies had been commissioned correctly and that operation of each system had been optimised.

Semi-structured interviews were used to gather residents’ perceptions of the impact of the retrofit interventions.

These show that: Thermal comfort in both winter and summer scored top marks with all rooms comfortably reaching the temperature set by the resident Despite the installation of external insulation that increased the depth of the window reveals, availability of daylight and artificial light from new LED lighting also received top marks

HOUSING The issue of noise from the new GSHP and MVHR systems was identified as audible but was not considered intrusive Occupants are also very satisfied with their ability to control all systems.

Post-retrofit monitoring by the WSA showed the improvements had a major impact on both operational energy and carbon emissions. The results after two years of monitoring showed that out of the heating season, 95% of the home’s energy was provided by the PVs and battery.

Consequently, residents’ electricity bills dropped to £3.00 per month (excluding standing charges) for the supply of electricity, heating and hot water from March to September when it is warmer, and the days are longer.

Average energy consumption was found to be 5MWh, significantly lower than the UK average of 15MWh, of which 2.8MWh was provided by the PVs and battery, with 2.2MWh supplied from the electricity grid.

In addition, without the need to burn oil or LPG for heating and hot water, the homes’ carbon emissions post retrofit are significantly lower. No wonder the CIBSE judges were impressed. 

www.cibse.org

Retrofitting Wales: The WSA won a second CIBSE award for its collaboration with Wales and West Housing to deliver a series of whole-house retrofits on a variety of different house types across south and west Wales. The project used the same systematic approach to prove that it was possible to use off-the-shelf systems to significantly reduce energy consumption and improve occupant comfort.

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LEGAL & BUSINESS

CLOCK IS TICKING ON PFI CONTRACT EXPIRY It’s been three years since the National Audit Office (NAO) warned the public sector was not prepared for the volume of PFI contracts reaching expiry. Sonia McRobb, Associate Director of PFI Expiry Solutions at Faithful+Gould, says little has changed in that time but the clock is ticking and action is required now. late 1990s may seem a distant memory T he for most people. But the early days of the Blair Government was the era that gave rise to the Private Finance Initiative. At the time, it was seen by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as a pioneering way to fund the building of essential new public facilities.

However, as the years have passed and Governments have come and gone, the public sector now faces a real wake-up call financially, as these contracts, typically 25 to 30 years in length, are now reaching expiry and little has been done to manage the transfer of the assets back into public sector ownership.

In addition to the warning issued by the NAO in 2020, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) also recommended the process of managing the end of the contract should take five to seven years, in order to ensure a smooth transition.

So, when you consider there are approximately 160 contracts set to expire between now and 2030, it raises the real risk that hundreds of buildings could return into public ownership without a clear understanding of the asset’s condition.

This would mean public sector organisations would be paying for work, such as boiler replacements and heating systems, that should have been paid for by private sector partners.

And in the worst-case scenario, we could see disruption of services.

In total, there are around 530 PFI contracts approaching expiry dates over the next 30 years,

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and action needs to be taken now to avoid this kind of worst-case scenario. But the clock is ticking and both the private sector companies and public sector asset management teams need to tackle this issue head on, and as early as possible.

Due to the longevity of the agreements, it is likely that the specialist knowledge required to manage the transfer of the contracts will not be available for many contracting authorities.

Quite simply, people have moved on or retired, teams have changed, probably a number of times in a quarter of a century. Is the paper trail intact to ensure they have all the right documentation?

In addition, earlier contracts have been found to have more ambiguous drafting, perhaps due to less attention to detail in the rush to get the funding secure decades ago, which is more likely to lead to disputes today.

It is up to all parties to ensure contracts are up to date and everything is in order to guarantee a smooth transfer process for all the contracting authorities in the public sector.

Therefore, the earlier both parties focus on this issue and bring qualified, expert advisors on board where needed, the better the outcome for all concerned.

The new service from Faithful+Gould and Atkins offers a holistic view of all the component parts of the PFI expiry process, along with the strategies and capabilities to deliver successful post-hand back outcomes. 

www.fgould.com

Sonia McRobb has spent 20 years working in large and complex organisations, for both public and private sectors; focused on business change and infrastructure programmes. She spent a number of those years working in the PFI/PPP arena, both at Leeds City Council and KPMG. In her current role at F+G, she heads up the PFI/PPP expiry offer.

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DRAINAGE & LANDSCAPING

LET IT GROW Grant Leggett, Executive Director of Boyer (part of Leaders Romans Group), discusses the increasing preference for natural public spaces over landscaped public spaces in today’s urban design.

100 years before the climate Local authorities, too, are prioritising O ver emergency became a global concern, woodlands as the ‘green’ component in it was recognised that, ‘he who plants a tree, plants a hope’.

Today, that mantra carries particular resonance. In light of rising temperatures, increased toxic emissions and decreasing biodiversity, it is scientifically proven that trees are fundamental to our survival, and their potential extends into all areas of life: the practical, social and environmental.

Currently, England’s woodlands cover just 10% of the country – a poor comparison to the EU average of 38%.

This figure is set to increase to 12% by 2050 under current regenerative plans but this is not enough according to Rewilding Britain, which is pushing for a doubling of the country’s woodland cover over the next decade to help absorb 10% of current UK greenhouse emissions annually and protect declining wildlife.

Facing up to the fact that the built environment has had a role to play in the reduction of woodlands, the development industry is doing its bit. My own organisation, Leaders Romans Group, is literally planting a tree for every house that it sells and will be launching a raft of new environmental initiatives imminently.

Others in the property industry are implementing similar projects.

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new developments, moving away from well-manicured ‘hard’ landscaping and towards more natural landscapes. This is partly influenced by the Environment Act’s requirement for a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain, which becomes a legal requirement from November this year. It also stems (no pun intended) from the desire for more ‘useable’ public open spaces that came into existence during the pandemic. Consequently, developers throughout the country, including London where I am based, are replacing architecturally-designed or ornamental high-maintenance lawns and topiary with more useable spaces, or even with woods and wildflower meadows. Local authorities are also allowing several of their green spaces to be left to re-wild, although the cynic in me suggests that may be more to do with maintenance budgets than a planned biodiversity effort.

Initial fears that untended spaces would impact on property values have been proven ill-founded. Last summer, LRG carried out some research into the impact on property values across all local authority areas in England and Wales. It concluded that homeowners are prepared to pay a premium for a home close to woodlands

and that this figure has increased in the last two years: homes located within 50m of woodland attract a 6% price premium, a rise of 2.4% since the start of the pandemic.

This is unsurprising taking into account a considerable increase of appreciation for woodlands post COVID: woodland visits rose from 170m in 2016-17, to 296m in 2020-21; and the annual number of visits to the forests managed by Forestry England rose by 74% between 2016 and 2021.

Understanding the importance that homeowners attach to woodland is vital in the planning of new communities. This has been demonstrated in the recent increase in counter-urbanisation and an aboveaverage rise in rural house prices. Whereas in 2019 the square footage of a home was deemed the single most-important factor in buying a property, post-COVID in 2022, this was replaced by access to outdoor spaces.

Informal public open spaces vary considerably and yet woodlands remain the most popular. Perhaps this is the versatility of woodlands, offering opportunities for natural play, quiet walks and in London, in particular, the opportunity to retreat from the sight of buildings and infrastructure and to remove oneself from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Of course, the potential for London developers to provide large expanses of woodland within a scheme, the viability of which depends on a certain density, is limited. Accordingly, many developers in London are both delivering access to woodlands and practical assistance for the management of nearby woodlands.

In Buckinghamshire, for example, developments within proximity to woodland

DRAINAGE & LANDSCAPING are required to pay a maintenance cost and on occasion may be a physical contribution. In some cases, this is provided through a SANG (Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space).

Boyer is currently advising on a residential development in Maidstone in which the developer will fund work at a local nature reserve and will be getting involved in handson work too.

Policies that formalise developers’ contributions to woodlands include the London Plan’s Urban Greening Factor (UGF). This guidance requires every local authority to create its own greening strategy and all major developments to include urban greening as a fundamental element of site and building design. It introduces the UGF calculator as a means of evaluating the quantity and quality of urban greening in a development proposal.

Like so many policies, it is a very good idea in principle, yet in practice is a blunt instrument that needs to be applied effectively. Some sites can never achieve the levels required and become unviable as a result.

Just as with the Environment Act’s requirement for a minimum 10% biodiversity net gain (BNG), it is important the policies – which acknowledge that greening is important – enable developers to implement measures without compromising the scheme itself. That’s not to say the principles of UGF nor BNG are wrong, but they are both new policies that need refinement over time lest they be the culprit in irrationally preventing development of otherwise suitable sites. For example, where a brownfield site has become overgrown, even when littered with trash or abandoned structures, or is contaminated, it can be extremely difficult to achieve 10% BNG while also delivering a development of the appropriate density.

Trees matter, a lot. But they are not the only means of increasing biodiversity, enjoyment of a scheme or its aesthetics. While metrics and calculators have a role to play in the implementation of worthwhile policies, it is important to view each scheme in its own context and not to overlook the benefits that a wide range of natural elements can bring. 

www.boyerplanning.co.uk

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LEISURE

SUPPORTING LEISURE CENTRES WITH GOVERNMENT FUNDING AND SMART ENERGY TECHNOLOGY Public leisure facilities play a major role in the health and wellbeing of the population. The combination of COVID and the energy crisis have hit the sector especially hard. Dean Hogg, Head of Sales at Powerstar, looks at two funding streams available for support and offers advice on technologies that can help decarbonise and make the most of ever-tighter budgets.

pools have closed since 2019, 8 5without being replaced, and Swim England estimate that 350 have faced service reductions, or temporary or permanent closure since October 2022.

Responding to this, the Government announced a £63m one-year fund to support public swimming facilities in the spring budget, with £23m in revenue grants for short-term operational needs and help with energy costs, and a further £40m for capital investment to improve longer-term energy efficiency.

Administered by Sport England, this funding throws a lifeline to public swimming facilities. While the short-term grant funding will undoubtedly help address the worst impact of record energy prices, those facilities looking to longerterm feasibility – including decarbonisation as part of a broader sustainability strategy – are already investigating and implementing technologies to help secure lower energy usage, saving on costs and cutting emissions.

Powerstar work with councils and charitable trusts to reduce the carbon footprint of public swimming facilities, which also reduces energy costs, with Voltage Optimisation (VO) as a particularly effective solution. Where the National Grid has a legal obligation to supply mains voltage at 230V +10%/-6%, this means that while supply is anticipated to be at 230V, in practice it can be anywhere between 216 and 253V. Most equipment in the UK is designed to operate at 220V and

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operating with a higher than necessary voltage wastes a significant amount of energy, while also damaging equipment through unnecessary wear and tear, shortening lifespan and increasing the need for maintenance.

For one client, Stockton Splash, in Stockton-on-Tees, Powerstar undertook site surveys that showed the incoming voltage was stable, but it was higher than necessary, meaning that implementing a VO solution would reduce emissions and bring about cost savings. A new 250kVA system, with a fixed 20V reduction, has reduced annual consumption by over 70,000kWh, saving Tees Active, who operate the centre, more than 10% in annual energy spend.

While this £63m will be crucial for swimming facilities, as noted, it is a one-off, one-year funding stream and still leaves the majority of public leisure facilities – around 2000 across the country – unsupported. For these, the wider Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) has already provided vital funding and, with Phase 3c expected to open in the autumn, the remaining budget for this phase, at £403m, represents a significant opportunity for leisure facilities looking to invest in sustainable energy technologies that both cut emissions and reduce operational costs. The 2021 ‘Securing the future of public sport and leisure services’ report highlights the critical need for leisure facilities to decarbonise if councils are to effectively address their own

emission levels, as “some district councils reported that leisure centres can represent up to 40% or more of their carbon footprint making these facilities a priority for decarbonisation programmes…It, therefore, stands to reason that investing in more energy-efficient sport and leisure centres could help to have a significant impact in decarbonising the local authority property estate”.

Projects funded under PSDS Phase 3b include a range of leisure facilities across the country, and many include heat pumps and solar power as part of their energy-saving decarbonisation strategies.

Of 17 council projects, which are either exclusively leisure related or where leisure centres are major beneficiaries, the scale of projects demonstrates both commitment to sustainability as well as clear evidence of the most relevant technologies to support this ambition, with funding between £364,000 for smaller projects up to £13,750,000 for London Borough of Hillingdon’s project to address its four largest sources of carbon emissions, including two leisure centres.

Where solar panels are installed to generate onsite renewable energy, including Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in the scope of a project can help to address the issues of cost and sustainability.

Solar power is, by its very nature, inflexible given that it is weather dependent. A BESS can store energy generated on site for use when needed. For maximum cost savings, this will ideally be when the price of energy

LEISURE from the grid is at peak price. Similarly, a BESS can store grid energy that is purchased when at its lowest cost. When considering net-zero ambitions, purchasing energy overnight for daytime usage is generally more sustainable, as electricity supplied by the grid at night is less carbon intensive than that supplied during the day.

Managing these two power sources – onsite renewables and grid supply – can lead to significant cost savings. Given that 94% of leisure centre income comes from customer fees facilities’ charges, leisure facilities need to ensure they can operate without disruption to energy supply and, while a traditional Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system can provide this, a modern BESS offers site-wide protection with 95% lower losses – again, reducing carbon emissions and cutting costs.

Ultimately, the cheapest and greenest unit of energy is the one you don’t use.

Investing in technologies such as VO, solar power and BESS can lead to major cost and carbon reductions, helping the leisure sector to build back after COVID and to manage the worst aspects of the energy crisis. Where targeted Government support is available, both for the short term and the longer term, smart energy management can help to deliver the critical public sector netzero ambitions, while helping the wider public health agenda through continued access to leisure facilities for all. 

www.powerstar.com

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GLASS & GLAZING

BETTER BY DESIGN – THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFICIENT FENESTRATION DESIGN IN THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR Andrew Cooper, National Specification Manager from Senior Architectural Systems, one of the UK’s largest privatelyowned aluminium fenestration solution providers, discusses how the latest innovations can give refurbished hospitals and other healthcare facilities a much-needed energy boost. improving natural light to F rom reducing damp and boosting energy efficiency, fenestration has a huge role to play in creating healthcare buildings that are fit for purpose.

Although architects can address these issues in new-build schemes, how can improvements be made to the NHS’ existing and deteriorating estates?

Sustainable building design is high on the agenda for most sectors but for the NHS, rising operational costs and the expense of refurbishing and repairing existing facilities has created a greater sense of urgency. This is the focus of the recently-published NHS Net Zero Building Standard, which looks specifically at how both costs and carbon can be reduced.

As fenestration – and by that we mean windows, doors and curtain walling – plays such a huge role in preventing heat loss from the building envelope, the size, style and positioning of all glazed units need to be carefully considered.

But how can the benefits of modern and efficient fenestration be retrofitted into existing, and often ageing, healthcare buildings? Early engagement with fenestration systems manufacturers is a good place to start.

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Saving energy and costs The development of thermally-efficient aluminium windows systems has come on leaps and bounds over the last decade, which means that many older healthcare buildings don’t come close to complying with the current Part L regulations. The reality of this is that these buildings are also more expensive to heat. With energy costs at an all-time high, replacing and upgrading windows to a system that is not only easy to maintain but which gives exceptionally low U-values by retaining more heat is a wise investment.

The added benefit of switching to an aluminium window system with a highperformance thermal barrier is that they are built to last and require little or no maintenance throughout their lifespan.

This durability of aluminium windows can be further enhanced by powder coating, which also enables new windows to be colour matched to any existing fenestration systems that are to remain in place.

Natural choices The link between natural daylight and wellbeing has been well documented and it’s important to provide those who are using a healthcare facility with

uninterrupted views of the outside. The strength of aluminium allows larger expanses of glazing to be supported in much slimmer frames to maximise daylighting and as there are so many different shapes and sizes available, an aluminium window can open up even the smallest room. The use of aluminium curtain walling and fixed light windows can also create more welcoming entrance areas to further reduce the reliance on artificial light.

Creating a well-ventilated space is also important and replacement windows need to feature easy-to-use opening mechanisms or trickle vents. There are many styles to choose from but this function must be taken with a view on safety, and specifically how falls from height can be prevented.

The use of window restrictors is a standard procedure but a window replacement strategy also opens up the possibility of the use of new innovations.

For example, a parallel push-style window can be a safe option for controlled ventilation and airflow. With hinges on all sides of the frame, the window can be easily pushed open and yet will remain parallel to the wall. This enables rooms to be safely ventilated, with the limited opening helping to reduce the risk of falls from the window.

GLASS & GLAZING

Other considerations to keep in view Reducing heat loss is often priority but thermally-efficient aluminium windows must also help reduce the risk of overheating. Close and early collaboration within the supply chain can identify the most cost-effective way to mitigate solar gain, whether this is through specialist glazing, the installation of manual or automatic opening louvres, or the detailed consideration of the size, position and opening style of each window.

Upgrading to more energyefficient windows that don’t create any cold spots or draughts can also create more adaptable interior spaces by enabling radiators to be moved from their conventional positioning under the windows.

Door designs As heat can also escape through doors, it’s important to choose a system that can achieve low U-values so that the amount of energy lost is minimised. Automatic opening doors are commonplace in hospital environments and sliding doors are ideal as they save space and reduce the number of touch points. However, it’s important to check that doors all work effectively as those that stay open for too long, or do not fully close, will contribute to further energy loss. Swing doors are also a popular choice as they provide quick access but in a busy hospital environment, a strong, heavy and robust door is essential.

Glazed doors can aid navigation and boost daylighting and although they may not be suitable for all areas of a hospital where a greater level of privacy is required, they can make a huge difference to the main entrance and communal public areas. Aluminium-framed commercial doors are also suitable for interior spaces as they are non corrosive, meaning they can withstand the rigorous cleaning procedures required of a hospital environment without any detriment to the quality of its finish. Glazed aluminium internal doors also allow natural light to flow and any obstacles or other building users to be easily seen so that accidents from collisions can be avoided.

Best practice With so much to consider and the challenge of working on existing healthcare facilities that are still operational, specifiers responsible for updating NHS estates face a huge and complex task. Tapping into the expertise of the supply chain can highlight areas where additional savings can be made, both in terms of operational costs and carbon emissions. At Senior, we have launched a new consultancy service to advise how the retrofitting of new aluminium fenestration systems can help create healthier and more sustainable buildings across the healthcare sector. 

www.seniorarchitectural.co.uk

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EDUCATION

NEW UNIVERSITY TO CATER TO ECONOMIC NEEDS OF REGIONAL TOWN The UK’s newest university, ARU Peterborough with its signature building, ‘University House’, has opened as part of a project delivered through a unique partnership between the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority, Peterborough City Council (PCC) and Anglia Ruskin University (ARU). The project was recently awarded the AUDE innovation of the year.

by Cambridge-based and D esigned education specialist architect firm, MCW, as part of a MACE-led multi-disciplinary team, the 5300m2 building launched as phase one of the development in September 2022, welcoming its first students for the start of the academic year.

As planned, University House was completed in less than two years, despite the supply chain and labour challenges brought

by COVID. It was recognised that the site had to represent a civic asset for the city – an open-access campus created specifically to allow the community to engage with and be inspired by the campus and the university.

Context Designed to encourage access by communities in a city where levels of participation in higher education are below national averages, and specifically focused on providing skills needed in the local economy, it is hoped that the ARU Peterborough expansion will meet the economic needs of the region.

Peterborough is currently ranked in the bottom 10% in the UK for skills levels,

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something ARU Peterborough aims to help change. Subject to the conclusions of an independent review, the university will seek to secure Unlimited Degree Awarding Powers and secure university title following the 2029/30 academic year.

Courses are being delivered through a mix of on-campus lessons, in-work training and apprenticeships, with distance learning and outreach programmes to improve accessibility and widen participation. ARU Peterborough’s portfolio of courses has been co-created with employers to ensure students will graduate with both the industry-specific and transferable skills in demand, regionally and nationally. It is hoped this will drive participation in higher education among local people, with a clear link between skills and great careers in the local economy.

Extensive consultation with the local authorities, the local community and ARU stakeholder and ‘end user’ groups ensured an iterative dialogue that contributed significantly and positively to the emerging ideas and final design proposals – from the biggest thinking to the smallest detail.

University House and the campus Sitting on the site of a former car park, University House, with its distinctive cantilevered solar veil and terrace views onto the city, signals a new chapter for Peterborough. The campus’ first building was designed to directly reflect the principal values of the institution – open access for the community, visibility of learning and crossdisciplinary collaborative working in a building that is accessible, contemporary, welcoming and sustainable.

The campus has been designed to be publicly accessible as part of a wider approach by MCW that will offer links to the Embankment and the River Nene and which forms part of the context for the campus’ future growth.

The landscape design results in a permanent step change in environmental quality. By replacing an underused and unattractive car park with a bustling university campus, open to all, the architecture succeeds in creating a strong sense of place, radically improving the visual and physical connections of the site.

EDUCATION There is ongoing work to develop an arts and culture strategy integrated with the landscape and buildings.

Configuration Spread over three floors, a range of spaces have been provided for students, designed specifically for large collaborative lectures, specialist skills and quiet and group study.

Arranged around a central ‘heart’ for informal learning, to encourage interaction and peer collaboration, the building’s core optimises natural light and visual sight lines to each side of the building.

Extensive internal glazing offers views of campus activity throughout, animating the learning environment; and the open central stairs and an extensive range of roof funnels bring light and ventilation through the depth of the building.

Controlled external glazing balances the desire for transparency with thermal performance standards. The south facade is dominated by a solar veil. Suspended from roof level, the design meets the needs of solar protection with visibility through a unique motif influenced by patterns seen on the city’s cathedral ceiling and stained glass.

The ground floor has been designed to facilitate community engagement through a welcoming reception, a 140-seat collaborative hall, with views out onto the campus offers space, an indoor/outdoor community cafe and spaces for exhibition and pop-up events.

The lecture hall signals arrival from the city through a retained tree belt offering

glimpses inside on approach and a secondfloor treetop terrace giving views back to the cathedral and city centre. It is clad in a distinctive patterned black, glazed terracotta, contrasting with the more neutral main building.

The building is designed to be adaptable and flexible to accommodate future change.

Sustainability Transforming a largely brownfield site on the edge of the city, the sustainability philosophies for phase one see people prioritised ahead of cars. Arrival on foot, cycle or by public transport is encouraged through the provision of over 140 sheltered bike racks, new pedestrian paths and minimal on-campus parking.

Extensive green roofs and photovoltaics provide renewable energy, and the design is suitable for the future connection to Peterborough Integrated Renewables Infrastructure (PIRI) lowcarbon community heat and private wire networks. This means that fossil fuel-free heat and hot water has the potential to be generated in the future.

The landscape retains the majority of existing established trees, and is enhanced with the new tree planting throughout the campus site. The integration of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) enhances flora and fauna biodiversity on site.

Professor Ross Renton, Principal of ARU Peterborough, said: “From the outset, we’ve wanted ARU Peterborough to be an inspiring, inclusive, environmentallyfriendly campus that the people of

Peterborough can be proud of, and MCW have been instrumental in helping us realise this vision.

“University House, our new home, is a stunning first building, combining cuttingedge facilities with a wonderful, welcoming atmosphere. We’re delighted to be working with MCW on the next stages of ARU Peterborough’s development.”

The next steps As lead consultant of the MACE-led multi-disciplinary team, MCW is currently working on the Peterborough Innovation & Research Centre and a second teaching building, incorporating a Living Lab. An outline planning application for the extension of the campus with the university partners and project stakeholders is being progressed, and will support the delivery of a programme business case for further development of the university campus.

It is anticipated that tenants will be moving into the Peterborough Innovation and Research Centre in 2023. The centre will provide research, development and commercial space, and complement the dynamic academic activities at University House. The Living Lab public science facility and second teaching building will house further teaching spaces, workspaces and social learning areas.

The Living Lab is a large double-height room designed to offer a flexible space for a variety of events and activities throughout the year. 

www.mcwarchitects.com

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HEALTHCARE

HOW NHS TRUSTS CAN KEEP UP WITH CURRENT HEALTHCARE DEMANDS Nathalie Meunier, National Business Development Director at Premier Modular, states three healthcare building trends, gathering these insights from Premier’s work with NHS trusts – using King’s College Hospital as an example to show how challenges were overcome with better, more sustainable building solutions, all while minimising disruption to the live site. alongside King’s College W orking Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Premier Modular provided additional modular space – enabling the trust to care for patients efficiently throughout the development. Setting an example for the industry, see how King’s College’s recent project has responded to healthcare trends.

Trend 1: Building new space to relieve waiting times NHS trusts continually need to reduce waiting targets, which often involves new or improved building capacity.

King’s College Hospital required a new, four-storey outpatient unit, choosing an offsite solution because: The construction programme was halved (vs a conventional bricks and mortar build) Groundworks were done simultaneously with the building’s manufacture Minimal disruption on site Each floor could be opened separately – for example, two new floors were in use before the remaining floors were completed.

To reduce the timing of the building’s installation, Premier Modular collaborated with King’s College’s estate team and

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traffic management to ensure there was no disruption to 24/7 A&E services. To minimise interruption of live healthcare sites, modular units were delivered and installed at low-occupancy times.

By building bespoke offsite units, the NHS can battle waiting targets sooner, without disrupting the normal operation of the estate.

Trend 2: Providing technical design solutions for a synergised and sustainable environment Hospital personnel are sometimes wary of modular buildings having what they term a ‘modular atmosphere’. When untangled, these views are often created based on old-fashioned units with inferior interiors or poor building controls.

Modern and robust modular designs give hospitals comfort, as well as other qualities, such as acoustics, which feel just as they would if they were built from bricks and mortar, but without numerous trades on site or the prolonged build programme.

The most demanding and dynamic healthcare environments – such as operating theatres – are now being built off site before being installed on site for many reasons.

A seamless connection between the original building and King’s College’s new building was key to enhancing service continuity and patient flow. The project’s floorplan was essential in meeting this need, as floors have a powerful impact on how we judge buildings.

Premier Modular’s designers selected a high-quality gypsum fibreboard – called Knauf GIFA FHB – which is laid over Premier’s floor substrate. GIFA meets the project’s specific floor dynamics, such as heavy pedestrian and hospital trolly traffic.

GIFA boards also have tongue and groove edges, sitting over joists and creating a lightweight but robust monolithic floor. The loading performance can be further enhanced with additional support from the Premier frame.

With no need to wait for concrete to cure, hospital units were operational in days rather than weeks compared with using concrete. By choosing GIFA, King’s College made significant savings to time and costs.

All the steelwork in Premier’s floor frames and cassettes is recyclable, improving the sustainability of the building without the loss of performance.

HEALTHCARE Modular buildings can be repurposed or remodelled as needs change – which is why many NHS trusts choose to fund their buildings from operational rather than capital expenditure.

The materials used in this factorybuilding process are 100% reusable or recyclable, with zero waste to landfill – therefore providing a sustainable solution to healthcare.

Trend 3: Increasing energy efficiency Every NHS trust must align with the new NHS Net Zero Building Standard, which works towards lowering the U-values of healthcare buildings by making them more airtight and energy efficient.

To reduce U-values, the NHS must embrace modern technology, such as mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems, air-source heat pumps (ASHP) and air-handling units (AHU) – which are all making significant changes to energy consumption.

Connecting a building management system (BMS) to mechanical and electrical (M&E) services allows costeffective control of energy usage, as it works by optimising energy consumption based on opening hours and efficiencies in light or heat gain.

Solar gain is commonplace for natural heat entering healthcare buildings, and the BMS balances this incoming heat with natural ventilation and air con. Intelligent programming balances out a hospital’s energy use with the occupancy of its buildings based on its PIR (movement/motion) sensors.

King’s College’s new modular building not only meets current healthcare needs but is also well placed to continue to improve how well it performs and serves its patients. The system will be fine tuned so those savings are combined.

The new building has been certified as BREEAM ‘Excellent’, ticking off requirements such as carbon emissions and the reduction of energy use.

To minimise energy usage, King’s College will see a significant reduction of carbon emissions (48.16%), with: A highly energy-efficient system for precise heating and cooling An efficient radiant panel system, powered by air-source heat pumps to replace radiator heating Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, which will generate approximately 45kWp of electricity output.

Determining the right sustainable solution for site Many NHS trusts are located in congested areas and are disparate, having been built over decades or centuries.

The key to adding a new building to an NHS estate is to collaborate with a variety of stakeholders – both clinical and non clinical – to learn what the building needs and to define factors such as timing, budgets and space.

Complex needs often get lost in translation, so it’s essential the NHS works with personnel who understand how to complete as much as possible off site, assemble efficiently on site and use renewable technologies to embrace sustainability.

The future Modern methods of construction are often the solution to NHS trusts’ problems. When building off site, groundworks occur in parallel with the building coming together in the factory, therefore, speeding up the construction programme. All this collates so that NHS services carry on without disruption. 

www.premiermodular.co.uk

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TIMBER

TIMBER FRAME: THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL HOUSING? David Hopkins, Chief Executive of Timber Development UK, discusses the benefits of timber frame housing in helping to solve the housing crisis in a sustainable manner.

2019, architecture practice Mikhail Given this outstanding example, could I nRiches set a new bar for social timber frame homes play a bigger part housing, winning the Stirling Prize with Goldsmith Street in Norwich, a 100% social housing scheme for Norwich City Council.

Providing a mix of 40 two-bed houses, five four-bed houses and 60 one- and two-bed flats, a key aspect of the project was the use of timber insulated panels manufactured off site by Cygnum Building Offsite. Using the Cygnum Passive system, good timber frame engineering delivered an economic design with less materials.

in solving the housing crisis that has 1.3 million on council house waiting lists?

Modern timber frame structures are precision engineered, strong and durable.

The build method relies on a factorymanufactured timber frame as a means of structural support. This carries the load imposed by the floors and roofs, before transmitting it to the foundations, which can be built at a lower cost due to the lighter overall weight of the buildings.

There are many advantages to using this method of construction for social housing. Offsite construction is a proven feature of millions of affordable new homes in the UK – it’s quick to build because the panels are prefabricated and can be assembled quickly and efficiently once they arrive on site. This can help reduce a project’s overall construction time without compromising on quality.

Offsite construction is also a costeffective option because it provides more predictable outcomes. It dramatically reduces the chance of onsite cost overruns and mitigates unexpected price increases whilst making maintenance during the lifecycle of a building easier through standardised parts.

Recently, major housebuilders, such as Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Homes, have begun acquiring their own timber frame manufacturing plants. We have already seen examples of housing associations doing the same.

For instance, Accord Group housing association in the West Midlands has produced timber-framed factory-built homes since 2011 through its Local Homes division. It currently produces about 200 homes a year with plans to expand manufacturing capacity significantly.

Offsite construction is possible with other materials, but timber brings its own specific advantages. Environmental sustainability and building quality homes and communities are crucial to the success of social housing projects – both from a regulatory and a moral standpoint.

First and foremost, timber is a renewable resource, and using it for construction can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a building project. Timber products in the built environment lead the way in terms of lifecycle assessment and Environmental Product Declarations.

Additionally, timber-frame construction can help to improve the energy efficiency of social housing. Timber panels are designed to provide high levels of insulation, reducing the need for heating and helping lower tenants’ energy bills.

This is particularly important whilst fuel poverty remains a significant issue.

Finally, timber is also renowned for its aesthetic qualities, a decreased perception of stress, a decrease in blood pressure, improved air quality and generally a heightened feeling of comfort. Building with timber results in beautiful environments that promote wellbeing and deliver quality environments people can thrive in.

Let’s banish the concrete jungles of yesteryear and use timber to create social housing we can be proud of. 

www.timberdevelopment.uk

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RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGY

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: HOW THE PUBLIC SECTOR CAN TACKLE ENERGY TARGETS Simon Briggs, Energy Lead at complete construction partner Stepnell, believes that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to making the public sector’s building stock more efficient. However, faced with an ageing building stock and stringent budgets, climate change plans should be actioned unique to each building and its useage.

the past decade, discourse O ver has been replaced with more practical action by local authorities, and with the support of Government, to achieve net-zero targets.

Unfortunately, that same period has borne the brunt of a pandemic and a perfect storm of global unrest and supply issues that have caused wholesale energy prices to rocket, significantly tightening the public sector purse strings at a time when estates continue to depreciate.

What this situation means is that the public sector has had to become increasingly savvy with how it spends on energy-efficiency measures. It is balancing big, statement changes – usually requiring a significant amount of capital expenditure (CapEx) – with more incremental changes that might not make headlines, but do materially help reduce emissions and – crucially – operating costs.

Across Step Energy projects, our business of renewable energy specialists, we work with public sector clients on a fabric-first approach – taking into account the energy hierarchy and tackling inefficiencies before looking at more substantial changes. The reality is that the varied scale and condition of the public sector estate means there is no one-sizefits-all, copy and paste solution that can be rolled out nationwide, so it is critical for consultants and clients to work collaboratively to look at adaptive solutions with phased approaches.

Naturally, some local authorities can make a bigger upfront investment than others. In such cases, big-ticket items, such as photovoltaic (PV) arrays, are a popular option, flipping the pyramid in a way that expedites decarbonisation, creates cash flow and reduces payback periods. The cost saving can fund a phased approach to the net-zero journey.

As we see more cases where a client doesn’t have a generous CapEx budget, the solutions created need to strike the balance between efficient energy useage and being smart with the budgets.

The reality is that the landscape is currently in a state of flux, as energy network providers face challenges to cope with the sheer number of renewables projects looking to come onto the grid.

However, through an early engagement process that establishes what the client’s aspirations are in respect to its current energy profile, local authorities and public sector bodies can arm themselves with a comprehensive energy strategy, with actionable changes to achieve carbon net zero on budget and on schedule. 

www.stepnell.co.uk

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HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS

RISING TO THE FIRE SAFETY CHALLENGE Dave Carr, Managing Director of Propeller Powered, explains how new technology is enabling social landlords to tackle the challenge of checking fire doors, ensuring compliance with new regulations. the owners or managers of F ormulti-occupied residential buildings over 11m, new regulations on fire door checks present a huge challenge.

Enforced in January 2023, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require the responsible person to conduct quarterly checks on communal doors that lead onto common areas, like hallways, and annual inspections on flat entrance doors.

Evidence of the steps taken to comply with the regulations must also be recorded.

For social landlords, the rules present a steep and potentially rocky path to compliance. Ensuring fire doors are safe is critical, but with dozens of doors to check even in small housing blocks, the scale of the task can’t be underestimated.

For many housing associations and local authorities, new procedures will be required to meet the requirements.

Relying on manual processes, such as spreadsheets and paper forms, for inspections will present a huge administrative burden that swallows significant time and resources while risking human error.

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A step ahead

Keeping track

In response, new technology has been fast tracked specifically for the social housing sector. This has been designed to make sure it is flexible enough to meet the requirements of individual organisations as well as the regulations.

The technology’s development is focused on enabling internal teams or external contractors to carry out the checks quickly and efficiently while creating an auditable trail and more transparency.

This is achieved thanks to new cloudbased software allowing fire door maintenance and inspection programmes to be managed digitally. Pilots have shown that this process can help to conduct the checks up to six times faster than manual systems.

Fire doors, including time-stamped images, can be digitally recorded into a database along with a history of inspections for auditing purposes. The frequency of inspections can be set and adjusted to comply with the regulations and to meet an organisation’s own building safety criteria.

At the heart of the software is QR code technology, which gives every fire door within a property a unique asset tag. This provides the ‘golden thread’ enabling all those with responsibility to identify, manage and mitigate risks relative to each door. Using a mobile device, each code can be scanned to reveal the door’s history and any defects can be instantly captured using an app. In real time, this information is logged on a central dashboard where actions can be raised.

Advanced technology means this process can take place offline if needed, avoiding issues in buildings with poor Wi-Fi connectivity or low network signal.

The QR codes also increase building safety transparency and communication regarding fire doors. Residents can use the codes to access vital safety information about their building, including a summary of a fire door’s service history. The same codes can be used by residents to instantly raise issues about specific doors and upload photographs, triggering automated tasks that are flagged for action.

HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS

Streamlining processes Another advantage of adopting new technology is that it can reduce the need to source technical experts or specialists to achieve compliance. The latest software can be implemented in as little as two weeks and requires minimal training. It can be tailored to an organisation’s specific policies, meaning it can be used by social landlords of any size or external contractors, including fire safety specialists and M&E contractors seeking to expand their services into fire door inspections.

The simplicity of the technology means a door can be asset tagged, scanned, inspected and registered within five minutes and the ability to tailor the software provides additional functionality. Other areas of compliance, including gas, electrical and legionella, can be incorporated into the same system bringing all key data into one place, eliminating the need for multiple systems.

No access visits can also be recorded using the app, evidencing the number of attempts to survey a flat door for vital safety checks.

Proactive approaches With the need to improve fire door safety front of mind for many

landlords, some housing associations have already begun to pilot and implement new technology, such as Propeller’s Prop-FS. For example, LiveWest has recently updated its system to record actions for doors and has set up a QR code system. Combined with a dashboard, this technology enables the housing association to assess which doors need to be upgraded or replaced to achieve compliance.

LiveWest’s existing repairs system has set servicing schedules based on priorities identified via the software and plans are in place to inspect all 22,960 doors over the next two years. These include communal and flat doors in buildings less than 11m high to go over and above the regulatory requirements.

With limited time left for the housing sector to refine its procedures for checking fire doors and achieving compliance, adopting new technology can tackle the challenge head on. Advanced software will not only save landlords significant time but provide a robust, auditable register and a higherquality service for residents. 

www.propellerpowered.co.uk

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TALKING POINT

THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC SECTOR WORKPLACES: HOW WORKING PRACTICES HAVE CHANGED INFRASTRUCTURE For the last 10 years, the preferred workplace model for the public sector has been the consolidated approach. Simon Dunstan, Director at GT3 Architects, discusses the benefits and challenges of a campus model and whether this method provides the holy grail of increased workplace performance, happier staff and lower costs. consolidated model, which has reigned supreme for the T he last decade, saw staff placed into a single headquarters, often located in a town or city centre, where the benefits of teamwork, co-location and urban regeneration could be leveraged.

Often led by cuts in budgets, a consolidated model focuses on reducing the size of an organisation’s property portfolio and removing inefficient buildings, which require extensive maintenance works or are being underutilised.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, an enforced period of homeworking began a social experiment that tested the relationship between employer and employee. Despite coming out the other side, employees’ work habits have changed for good, which leaves many public sector organisations asking what their ‘new’ future workplace strategy should look like.

Workplace models are a product of social and economic trends and, until the pandemic, creating a communal atmosphere with staff in a central location was beneficial. With ‘work from home’ and ‘flexible working’ now normalised, what employees and employers are looking for in an office and employer has changed.

The campus model – which refers to multiple buildings located across a town or city – is another option for public sector

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Simon Dunstan, a Director at award-winning architecture practice GT3 Architects, is a Chartered Architect with more than 25 years of experience across a wide range of sectors for both public and private clients.

organisations that are looking to make financial savings, whilst improving the delivery of services, enhancing the health and wellbeing of their staff and facilitating the regeneration of their cities, towns and villages.

Benefits to employees by taking a campus model approach Similar to a university campus, having a variety of buildings spread across a city or borough has many benefits. Firstly, it increases opportunities and choice, as staff can pick where they want to work and, since location is a high determining factor for employees, businesses will be able to open themselves up to a wider pool of talent without making commuting distance a barrier.

We also can’t deny there is a cost-of-living crisis happening, so having the option to travel less and increasing choice for the employee will help staff wellbeing and retention.

The model is also more sustainable, as usually a new headquarters would need to be built from the ground up, but a campus model allows you to utilise existing assets and upgrade what you have. And, with more locations, organisations are likely to reduce their overall carbon emissions from unnecessary travel.

TALKING POINT

Financial benefits for the public sector The campus model can often work out better value in comparison to a consolidated, single-use option.

On a recent project, we were able to save the local authority 30% on its original plan by trimming its property portfolio from 30 to five buildings, and carefully considering the space requirements and functions of all departments. Initial plans included a large headquarters as well as streamlining its assets, but due to changes in the political landscape, the HQ option was discarded. In the end, this provided an opportunity to adopt a campus model that had a better impact on the employees, the organisation and the community.

The public sector is always slightly behind the private sector trends and when choosing a workplace model, both are financially motivated, but their motivations differ. For example, many councils decided to close offices, even after the pandemic, to save money and continued to urge staff to work flexibly. However, for many private companies who may have invested in new or refurbished office space, there was a push to return to work so their investment is not wasted.

Supporting economic regeneration In many cities, there are plenty of underutilised assets, which provides an opportunity to tackle challenging

buildings and anti-social behaviour head on. To kickstart regeneration in these areas, which often suffer from economic poverty, having a council presence and a central location for locals to visit will not only create social impact but will increase footfall and support the economy, bringing in more shops and restaurants.

However, this approach does reduce the economic impact in city centres, which is where a majority of these large HQs are based. It’s, therefore, important to create a robust strategy to make the most of your assets within the campus model.

The challenges of multiple locations It’s important to acknowledge the challenges of any workplace model. With

multiple offices, there is a risk of losing cohesion between teams and staff. Undoubtedly, having everyone in one space makes it easier for creating a team environment and socialising but also for IT infrastructure, which is often harder to manage across multiple sites.

With more buildings also comes more maintenance, which risks a lowerquality work environment and money wasted on upkeep if the space is not utilised correctly.

Our workplace consultancy service gives us an in-depth insight into the strategic and specific needs of different user groups and helps organistions better utilise their assets to not only save money but keep their employees happy. 

www.gt3architects.com

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TECHNICAL FOCUS

WHY FLAT ROOFS SOMETIMES HAVE THE EDGE ON PITCHED ROOF DESIGN In residential or commercial environments, properties are generally covered with a pitched or flat roof design.

Although both different in style, each is designed to carry out the same task: safeguard a building against the elements whilst contributing to the creation of a warm, thermally-efficient interior. But why do some property owners opt for a flat roof rather than a pitched roof design or pitched roof extension? James Wilinson, Design Team Manager at Gradient, explains more. the title ‘flat roof’ is slightly misleading. No roof F irstly, is completely flat, as each one must contain a slope, however slight, in order to allow effective rainwater runoff. If water is not properly dispersed from a flat roof, its weight will lead to deflections forming and increase the risk of ponding.

This additional weight may increase the likelihood of a worstcase scenario: water-based structural damage, one of the most common forms of building failure.

Advantages of a flat roof over a pitched roof design Although suitable for a range of environments and applications, flat roofs have greater prominence on commercial or publiclyfunded buildings including schools and hospitals. In these areas, the advantages of a flat roof over a pitched roof design are more pronounced for several reasons. Commercial roofing spaces tend to be much larger than residential settings and contain multiple levels, eliminating a sloped or pitched roof design as an option. Bearing less weight than a pitched roof design or pitched roof extension, a flat roof is more suitable for the safe, convenient placement of plant, such as air conditioning units, and other plant materials that are crucial to high-occupancy buildings. The ease with which flat roofs are accessed and upkept in comparison to pitched roof designs or pitched roof extensions is enhanced by their ability to accommodate edge protection and ladder systems, thus reducing the safety risk during routine maintenance visits.

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Pitched roof construction details A roof’s pitch is measured by the vertical rise in relation to horizontal run. There are two types of pitches, steep and shallow.

A steep slope is between 45 and 60º, while a shallow pitched roof design is between 20 and 45º. The steepness or depth of a roof’s slope affects how much water will run off of it.

Pitched roof vs flat roof cost Pitched roofs, due to their height and visibility, offer more of a striking statement in terms of aesthetics. However, flat roofs, on account of their rapid, cost-effective installation, easier maintenance and proven, long-term performance, find greater favour in commercial settings than a pitched roof design. That’s not to say that flat roofs can’t look as smart as they perform. Indeed, such are the advances in the technical composition of roof insulation and waterproofing membranes, flat roofs can provide a building with a crisp, uniform finish that obscures less eye-catching details, such as solar PV panels and plant details from being visible at ground level.

Flat roofs are typically more cost effective to install than a pitched roof design or pitched roof extension. This cost efficiency is enhanced by flat roofs requiring less maintenance to uphold performance, although twice a year inspection is still needed as per BS 6229:2018. A pitched roof design or pitched roof extension might be considered more suitable for areas subject to heavy snowfall or rain due to their greater pitch allowing for a more rapid shedding of water.

TECHNICAL FOCUS

Tapered insulation – a facilitator to successful flat roof installation As an effective way of creating falls to provide effective water runoff, tapered insulation is an increasingly popular method of securing a flat roof’s longterm performance by keeping it dry and warm. However, achieving such an outcome requires good planning and specification, all of which can be taken care of by engaging with Gradient – experts in flat roof insulation and tapered roof insulation.

We work closely with clients at all stages of a project to deliver a tapered insulation system that is tailor made to suit flat roof applications varying in size and complexity. From design to the offsite manufacturing process, through to a system’s installation and beyond, Gradient’s turnkey service offers complete peace of mind. It guarantees that the tapered insulation system we select will be the most efficient and cost effective for your flat roof’s long-term protection.

The benefits gained from our all-round flat roof insulation and tapered roof insulation service could be considered priceless, particularly as our technical expertise and support, coupled with our range of high-performance insulation systems, enable flat roof installations to be carried out correctly first time, every time. 

www.gradientuk.com

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FOCUS & INNOVATION

FIREFIGHTERS GET REAL-LIFE TRAINING ON EVACUATION ALERT SYSTEMS Firefighters from South Wales Fire & Rescue Service are getting hands-on training in evacuation alert systems following the installation of an Advanced EvacGo system at the Cardiff Gate Training & Development Centre.

The centre trains around 1400 firefighters in a range of advanced facilities, including industrial and domestic training buildings, a multi-purpose climbing and abseiling tower, dedicated area for road traffic collision simulations, a confined space tunnel, rope rescue structure and areas for hazardous materials.

Most recently, the centre opened a state-of-the-art Real Fire Training Facility (RFTF) enabling crews to undertake drills in a range of real-life scenarios – the first of its kind in Wales.

Facilities like this are essential for ensuring firefighters receive the best possible training to respond effectively to a wide range of emergency scenarios. The addition of an EvacGo now means that operational crews will be able to familiarise themselves with the operation of an evacuation alert system, ensuring they are able to use it successfully should they encounter one during the course of their work.

EvacGo is compliant with the BS 8629 Code of Practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by fire and rescue services in England and Wales. Following amendments to Approved Document B of the Building Regulations, evacuation alert systems became mandatory in new residential high-rise buildings over 18m in England and Wales in December 2022.

However, for all other new-build and retrofit projects, complying

with BS 8629 is still seen as best practice and many building owners are choosing to install evacuation alert systems to keep their residents safe.

Station Manager, Jason Lamport, said: “I would like to personally thank Advanced for providing us with the EvacGo panel. These simple highrise evacuation systems are a huge step forward in the future of tall and complex building fire safety.”

shorter showers’ timers have been given out to customers and end users, with many more planned for distribution in the coming months.

Disability Partnership as its charity partner, with product donations and specific fundraising events planned for 2023.

Nick Parsons, AKW Group CEO, comments: “Here at AKW, we are committed to investing in opportunities that make a real difference to our employees and the communities we are involved in. Although there is still so much more to do, we are very proud of the impact our range of initiatives have had so far on our local community and the wider environment.”

www.advancedco.com 0345 894 7000

AKW INVESTS IN LOCAL COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REDUCTION AKW, a leading provider of inclusive bathroom and kitchen solutions, has been investing increasing time and money in benefitting the environment and local communities. As a result, the company has reduced single-use plastic packaging waste, improved recycling, helped customers save water and committed to 300 business days of employee volunteering this year.

AKW is in the process of reducing single-use packaging and packaging reviews are taking place across its product portfolio. To date, 98% of single-use packaging for shower screens and waste pumps has been replaced with a biodegradable alternative; saving 2.3 tonnes of single-use plastic packaging going to landfill each year.

In addition, recycling efforts across the business have been accelerated and 100% of polythene and cardboard waste is now captured and recycled.

AKW has also been promoting water-saving practices by redesigning key products within its ranges to promote water efficiency. A water-saving campaign, including a guide and competition, has been very successful and already approximately 1500 ‘take

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Giving back to the community Along with supporting the local community with food bank donations, Easter egg collections and a range of charity fundraiser events, AKW has also launched its Helping Hands, UK-wide employee volunteer scheme.

This involves AKW allocating 300 days of work time per year for employees to volunteer for a cause they are passionate about. In addition, the company – based in Droitwich – continues to support the Warrington

www.akw-ltd.co.uk 01905 823298 sales@akw-ltd.co.uk

International Timber and Peter Cox recently joined forces to restore a 155-year-old signal box in Wales, utilising sustainable Accoya to ensure longevity and maintain the structure’s historic charm.

Found in Anglesey, the Valley Station signal box dates back to 1867 and was in desperate need of restoration following decades of decay. Faulty drainage had led to wet rot taking hold of the timber, making it likely that the structure would not have survived if refurbishments had not taken place. Keen to utilise a high-performance solution, the surveyors selected Accoya as the timber of choice to replace the historic, internal structural timber frames. The product could be cut to the specific needs of the build, while providing huge sustainability and durability qualities that will benefit the structure for years to come. Paul Martin from International Timber said: “This is an excellent example of the potential of our sustainable Accoya timber, which will help this signal box continue to stand the test of time. This collaboration has also seen us supply timber for several other similar projects throughout the North Wales area.”

THE NEW SPACESAVING FERNOX TF1 SIGMA UB FILTER

FOCUS & INNOVATION

SUSTAINABLE ACCOYA SAVES HISTORIC WELSH STATION

The new Fernox TF1 Sigma UB Filter breaks the mould of in-line system filters with its unique design. Unlike most system filters, the TF1 Sigma UB Filter can be installed horizontally at a 90° angle, directly under the boiler, close to the wall and with direct connections to the system. It is an easy-to-install option even in the most restricted of spaces and has been developed for use with concealed pipework. Through its clever design, the neat and reliable Fernox TF1 Sigma UB Filter captures the maximum amount of circulating debris possible. System water passes through the manifold into the filter’s main body, where the magnetic debris is transferred directly to the powerful, neodymium magnet. This protects the boiler, optimises boiler efficiency and prevents system breakdown. The TF1 Sigma UB Filter has been manufactured from a high-strength, composite polymer and forged brass manifold, which allows for direct and secure connections to the system. Available with a 10-year warranty, it has been precision engineered for universal useage – however, for specific boiler models an adapter is supplied.

0330 100 7750

www.fernox.com/ubfilter sales@fernox.com

www.internationaltimber.com

FIREFLY APOLLO LITE HELPING PROTECT HERTFORDSHIRE HOMES

KNIGHTSBRIDGE SEES PART M IN ANTHRACITE AND WHITE Knightsbridge – one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of wiring accessories and lighting – has recently compiled a collection of wiring accessories ideally suited to environments where meeting Part M of the Building Regulations is a concern. The collection covers safety, ease of use and hygiene, encompassing anti-bacterial switches and sockets and accessories dedicated for those with disabilities. At the heart of the Part M range is colour-contrasted, outboard rocker sockets and high-contrast and wide-rockered switches for both lighting and appliances. To assist people with visual impairments, socket chassis come in a striking anthracite finish with white rockers for contrast. This range satisfies recommendations that switches contrast with front plates, which, in turn, contrast with walls.

www.mlaccessories.co.uk 01582 887760 sales@mlaccessories.co.uk

A leading passive fire protection contractor is employing fully tested and trusted products from the range of TBA FIREFLY for the creation of half-hour fire barriers within roofspaces of low-rise sheltered housing in the St. Albans district of Hertfordshire, with the manufacturer providing onsite assistance in respect of regular inspections and the provision of recommended fixing details to ensure the work is fully compliant with current regulations. Contracts Manager for JPS Projects, Matt Tucker, commented: “The APOLLO Lite 30:30 is very easy to manage – being lightweight and flexible – while FIREFLY has visited twice so far to carry out inspections, making sure we are complying with the instructions, and have given us very good feedback.”

www.tbafirefly.com

01706 758817

sales@tbafirefly.com

BRIGHTON-BASED SPECIALIST TANKING OLD SCHOOL BASEMENT USING TRITON TECHNOLOGY Bensleys, a damp-proofing and timber treatment specialist, is currently employing two of Triton Systems’ well-proven products for the tanking of a large basement beneath an old school in Ovingdean, Sussex. Lee Browne, whose father, Brian, took over the running of the company some 35 years ago, commented: “In the case of this school, where three walls of the basement are below ground due to the sloping site, the capillary damp was quite bad, but I was confident it could be treated using the TT55 tanking slurry and Triton’s Tri-Cream DPC treatment, which we inject. Triton has always been brilliant with us and any time a technical issue arises, I will always get in touch with Steve West at Triton, or one of his colleagues, for advice or the supply or a special detail.”

01322 318830

www.tritonsystems.co.uk info@tritonsystems.co.uk

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FOCUS & INNOVATION

An invisible problem

WHY INDOOR AIR QUALITY MATTERS AND HOW TO RESPOND Indoor air quality (IAQ) is fundamental to the wellbeing of people and property – it’s the foundation pin of the concept of build tight, ventilate right. Sadly, despite that message having been communicated for almost 20 years, it takes events such as the COVID pandemic and the death from mould in his Rochdale home of little Awaab Ishak for it to register. Here, Ian Rogers, Sales Director at Gilberts (Blackpool), discusses further.

Rising energy costs are complicating the problem: there is a perception that ventilation means heat loss. Thus people turn extraction off prompting a deterioration of indoor air quality as moisture becomes trapped within the building. Then there is the added dimension that many non-domestic public buildings have large open spaces – atria, sports halls – that require significant energy to heat.

Climate change, too, has an impact.

With more spells of heavier rain, higher humidity and wetter winters, on a wet

day, if we open a window to let some fresh air in, are we actually letting more moisture in too?

In the public realm, the implications of IAQ are much wider – it affects the health of all local authority and NHS Trust buildings and the occupants of those buildings, whether staff, visitors, patients and the contents. IAQ affects infection control in hospitals through to the conservation of our heritage in museums and the stock of our libraries. It affects how much an infection spreads through a school or office.

Air quality is deteriorating. The pandemic highlighted it to the extent the World Health Organisation updated its guidelines for national and local authorities on pollutant levels1. We wouldn’t drink a glass of dirty water because we know of the dangers, but we can’t see dirt and pollutants in the air we are breathing indoors. We spend around 90% of our time inside, at work, play, living, so the air we breathe inside should be as clean as drinking water.

Building Regulations Approved Document F (updated in 2021) and the Health & Safety Executive set minimum standards for ventilation between 8-10l/p/s. Document F also raised the criteria to help improve IAQ by requiring regular servicing and maintenance of ventilation plant and CO2 sensors.

Correct airflow/ventilation protects health and the building fabric. This reduces repair and maintenance bills and helps protect the planet.

What is the answer?

The solutions already exist, some of which you may be aware of, some you may not.

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) was pioneered as long ago as 1997. As with all technology, it has evolved, its latest incarnation being hybrid ventilation with heat recovery (HVHR).

HVHR ‘ticks the boxes’ in so many ways. It predominantly relies on natural ventilation, so only uses energy when supplementing airflow with a lowenergy fan as temperatures and CO2 levels demand – such as full occupancy of an IT suite in school. It minimises heat loss by extracting warmth from the exhaust air and transferring it to the cooler, incoming fresh air. Filters remove pollutants. In certain scenarios, this can even be carbon negative. Further, most HVHR systems are ‘standalone’, so are ideally suited to new-build and refurbishment projects.

Humidity-sensitive extracts trigger only when the moisture content of the air reaches a preset, thus preventing damp build up without wasting energy.

Similarly, intelligent temperature-sensitive diffusers monitor the temperature of the controlled air, redirecting the airflow to maintain the equilibrium in the room below. They require no external power source, and their quick reaction avoids heating boosting unnecessarily. Energy efficiency – and thus the building’s overall carbon footprint – is optimised.

Jet nozzles, with their long throw capability, help maintain airflow in large spaces.

Computer software now enables your M&E team to design the building services to balance energy consumption, heating, cooling and air quality and then model/test the theory before a single item is ordered.

Maintaining the IAQ without excessive heat loss nor damp requires application of balance. The tools exist to achieve that balance. The key is to work with trusted professionals in the field who can advise and support you to deliver the best air quality possible within your constraints.

www.gilbertsblackpool.com 01253 766911 Source: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/hand le/10665/345334/9789240034433-eng.pdf 1

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2021 saw the latest extension, Y Celtec

Castell High School in Flintshire supplies co-education to 1300-plus students promoting strong levels of wellbeing. The original school building was established in 1958 and, as the student intake grew, extensions were built in 1974 and 1992 to accommodate.

The school’s Site Supervisor, Paul Muncey, explained: “Keeping the white-painted walls clean was becoming a nightmare for our cleaning team and within 12 months of the building coming into use, the walls along the corridors required repainting.”

Business Manager, Emma Manning, had come across Yeoman Shield wall protection solutions in a previous position and got in touch with regards to protecting the new building’s walls before the impact damage became too great.

Yeoman Shield’s directly-employed fixing operatives installed Mid-Grey FalmouthEx, 2500 x 1250mm wall protection panels along the corridor walls.

The panels, once in place, not only protect from damage but are easy to clean down and will prove over the years to reduce repair and maintenance costs. They also look good sustaining a bright, clean and welcoming environment for staff and pupils at all times.

Paul Muncey concluded: “I was very pleased with the quality of work provided by the Yeoman Shield installers who showed consideration to the environment that they were working in.”

FOCUS & INNOVATION

CASTELL ALLEN HIGH SCHOOL PROTECTS building, completed. Problems soon became apparent with the walls within the new area EXTENSION WITH YEOMAN SHIELD being clean and damage free.

www.yeomanshield.com 0113 279 5854

ROCKWOOL LAUNCHES NEW SOUNDPRO GUIDE

F. BALL DELIVERS WIN-WIN FOR DECORETTE WOONATELIER Stopgap 600 Base deep-section base compound and Styccobond F49 Hybrid PS adhesive were amongst products from F. Ball and Co. used to install floorcoverings in the new premises of the Echt franchise of the Dutch home deco retailer Decorette. To raise floor levels by 11mm, flooring contractors applied Stopgap 600 Base deep-section compound at a thickness of 7mm. Floorcoverings were then adhered using Styccobond F49 Hybrid PS temperature-tolerant adhesive in the areas near the showroom’s floorto-ceiling windows. Styccobond F46 was used to install vinyl planks in other areas. The pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive provides a high bond strength that increases as it is trafficked.

01538 361633

ROCKWOOL has launched ROCKWOOL SoundPro. The specialist guide combines technical data, product information and the latest regulatory advice in one place, aiding the specification of stone-wool solutions for settings where sound insulation is key. ROCKWOOL SoundPro outlines the importance and principles of good acoustic design and how to effectively enhance the acoustic capabilities of building projects. As noise pollution is now regarded as a public health problem that affects millions across the UK, the need for effective acoustic insulation in our buildings is more prevalent than ever. As such, ROCKWOOL SoundPro includes various strategies and functions that can reduce the amount of unwanted noise transfer through walls, floors or roofs.

01656 868400

www.rockwool.com/uk/soundpro customersupportcentre@rockwool.co.uk

HAMWORTHY HEATING PROVIDES SHASTID ENERGY WITH A QUICK AND RELIABLE SOLUTION Following a long and established relationship, Hamworthy Heating, a trusted British manufacturer and supplier of commercial heating and hot water products, has supplied Shastid Energy with a Tyneham air-source heat pump for installation at its premises in Cambridgeshire. The Tyneham heat pump range offers superb operational reliability, excellent quality and outstanding performance backed up by engineering excellence and lifetime support. One of the lightest commercial heat pumps on the market, it features a co-efficiency of performance (COP) rating of up to 4.85 to provide efficient, low-carbon heating. The seven models in the range have six nominal outputs of between 14 to 70kW, which can also be cascaded to achieve higher outputs in larger installations.

www.f-ball.com/en mail@f-ball.co.uk 01202 662552

www.hamworthy-heating.com sales@hamworthy-heating.com

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