10/6/2010
Six of the best sustainable buildings in Wales
The BREEAM Awards Wales 2010 were presented at the Greener Homes and Buildings show at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells last week by Jane Davidson AM, Minister for the Environment, Sustainability and Housing for the Welsh Assembly Government.
These Awards recognise and reward those involved in the design and construction of the highest scoring buildings certified under BREEAM over the last year.
BREEAM is the world's leading rating tool for sustainable buildings and communities. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become a universal measure of a building's environmental performance.
To win an award a building must excel in all environmental categories addressed by BREEAM - these are energy, materials, waste, water, ecology, pollution, transport, management, and health and wellbeing.
The six 2010 Award winners are :
BREEAM Offices - awarded to the Ceredigion County Council Offices, constructed in Aberystwyth for 410 council staff brought together from offices across the city. The design team, contractor and BREEAM assessor worked together on the building's design and procurement to ensure that the most sustainable outcomes were achieved within the project's budget.
"Our employees are proud of their new office building, with its sustainable credentials and excellent working environment," says Martin Severs of Ceredigion County Council. "It is significantly cheaper to run than the seven Georgian and Victorian buildings previously occupied in Aberystwyth."
Client: Ceredigion County Council, Architect: Powell Dobson, Contractor: Willmott Dixon Construction, BREEAM Assessor: WD Re-Thinking.
BREEAM Further Education - awarded to the new Ystrad Mynach College building in Caerphilly, a four-storey teaching block that includes classrooms, a hair and beauty studio, a learning resource centre, and a new refectory and kitchen facilities. It is being constructed within the footprint of the building it will replace, and every material and design element has been scrutinised to achieve a high level of sustainability.
"The inclusion of the latest energy saving devices and sustainable processes, has enabled the College to reduce running costs while providing a comfortable environment for both learners and staff," says Steve Davies, Estates Manager for Ystrad Mynach. "This also promotes an interest in sustainability, which is becoming more and more a part of the curriculum."
Client: Ystrad Mynach College, Project Manager: BNP Paribas Real Estate, Architect: AWW Architects, Contractor: Midas Construction. BREEAM Assessor: AECOM.
BREEAM EcoHomes - awarded to Rodney Parade Phase 1, a residential development of 51, high quality dwellings in Newport, South Wales. Part of a major regeneration project in Newport known as City Vizion, the environmental features of the development include the use of energy efficient building fabric, low NOx boilers, responsibly sourced timber, a site on which the ecology has been enhanced, together with good public transport links and local amenities.
Developer: Taylor Wimpey (South Wales), Architect: Gardner Stewart Architects, BREEAM Assessor: AECOM.
BREEAM Industrial - awarded to the Western Power Distribution building on the Dole Industrial Estate north of Llandrindod Wells in Powys. It is a steel frame building that incorporates a production area and associated office accommodation. The environmental features include a strong focus on the use of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies, avoidance of refrigeration in the building's operation, a natural ventilation system and an increase in the flora species on the site.
Client: Western Power Distribution, Architect: HLN Architects, Contractor: Britannia Construction Ltd, BREEAM Assessor: WYG.
BREEAM Bespoke - awarded to the regional North Wales office for the Welsh Assembly Government, located at Llandudno Junction, Conwy. The building's environmental features include a biomass boiler that meets around 90% of its energy requirements for heating and domestic hot water, and a natural ventilation system for all open plan office areas and the atrium.
Carwyn Jones AM, First Minister of Wales said "This is a building both the Welsh Assembly Government and North Wales can be proud of. It is no small achievement to complete a building on this scale and to achieve such high environmental standards - BREEAM ‘Excellent' and an A-rated energy performance."
Client: Welsh Assembly Government, Architect: Austin Smith Lord, Project Manager: Tweeds, Contractor: Pochin Construction, BREEAM Assessor: WYG.
BREEAM Schools - awarded to Rogiet Primary School, designed by White Design and built by Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd for Monmouthshire County Council, working together as a close team in a ‘partnering' approach. Sustainable design principles have been followed from the outset, and integrated with the children's education. For example, landscape design includes a nature garden area and a pond for wildlife study, and an eco-wall in the library includes displays of energy use and rainwater capture.
Client: Monmouthshire County Council, Contractor; Willmott Dixon Construction, Architect: White Design, BREEAM Assessor: WD Re-Thinking.
Further information on the Award winners can be found at www.breeam.org/awards.
ENDS
Press enquiries : SIMON GUY, +44(0)1923 664305, guys@bre.co.uk.
Notes for Editors
1 BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings around the world, with 200,000 buildings certified and over a million buildings in total registered under the scheme. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de-facto measure used to describe a building's environmental performance. Credits are awarded in nine categories according to performance. These credits are then added together to produce a single overall score on a scale of Pass, Good, Very Good, Excellent and Outstanding, which is also reflected in a star rating from 1 to 5 stars http://www.breeam.org/.
2 BRE Global Limited (incorporating LPCB & BREEAM) is an independent third party approvals body offering certification of fire, security and sustainability products and services to an international market. BRE Global mission is to ‘Protect People, Property and the Planet' and is a trading subsidiary of the BRE Trust, the registered research and education charity which owns the BRE Group. For further information please contact: BRE Global, Garston, Watford, UK, WD25 9XX, Tel: +44 (0)1923 664100, Fax: +44 (0)1923 664910, Email: enquiries@breglobal.com or visit www.breglobal.com