Submitted by Jessica Haskell on Mon, 2021-06-28 21:05
The University has just completed the refurbishment of the Gleeson Building on Tennis Court Road. The building dates from 1988 and has now been brought fully up to date, providing modern laboratory space and state-of-the-art instrumentation for the MRC Toxicology Unit. Work involved extensive renewal of mechanical and electrical systems as well as forming a new entrance, a café space, and improving links with the neighbouring Pharmacology Building.
We have just received the good news that the refurbishment has been officially BREEAM certified as ‘Excellent’. The University was an early adopter of the BREEAM environmental assessment system and the methodology has been guiding the design of our major projects since 2004. A BREEAM assessment evaluates a building’s design, construction and use, and covers a comprehensive range of topics from energy, water use, ecology and materials, to health and wellbeing. Buildings can achieve a five-point scale of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding. A rating of ‘Excellent’ can be particularly challenging when applied to the refurbishment of an existing building, especially one as complicated as a research laboratory.
Laboratory buildings are notoriously energy hungry. Much of this is associated with the high rates of ventilation required to maintain air quality. The Gleeson Building refurbishment has tackled this through installing high efficiency fume cupboards and fans, a heat recovery system to recover energy from exhaust air, and controls that adjust supply according to demand. Low energy LED lighting with motion sensing controls will also help cut carbon emissions. Water consumption has also been tackled through use of efficient taps and showers and by installing waterless urinals.
Perhaps most significant of all is the fact that an existing building has been successfully adapted to meet the needs of modern biological sciences. This has avoided the environmental impact from all the cement, steel and other materials that would have been used in the construction of a new facility.
The Contractor (SDC) had to commit to achieving many other targets defined by BREEAM and they were understandably wary of promising that an Excellent rating would be possible. The fact that an Excellent Certificate has been awarded is a tribute to the hard work of their design and construction teams. It was notable that they scored close to maximum points under the Considerate Constructors Scheme for measures such as supporting workforce welfare, good communication with neighbours, logistics planning, and safety.
If you’re interested in finding out more about sustainable buildings at the University, you can also read about the Civil Engineering Building which received its BREEAM Excellent rating earlier this year.
Written by Alexander Reeve, Sustainable Buildings Advisor
Image of new café, credit SDC