LSE's New Students' Centre
About the building
The £24 million, New Students’ Centre for the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), has achieved a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating at the Design Stage with a score of 86.45%.
The first new building that LSE has commissioned in more than 40 years, the New Students’ Centre is being constructed on the site of the old St Philips building on Sheffield Street, next to the Peacock Theatre in London WC2. The building is due to be completed in summer 2013.
The Centre will be a standalone, six-storey development providing a mixture of facilities within a sustainable building envelope. These include the students’ union, a learning café, exercise studio, coffee bar, fitness centre, media centre, activities space and LSE’s career services. The envelope will consist of a mixture of solid and latticed, locally sourced red brick that will provide a variety of lighting effects internally and externally.
‘The New Students' Centre must have the highest design quality, environmental sustainability and procurement approach; creating a contemporary, innovative and exciting student environment.’ (LSE, October 2010.)
Key facts
- BREEAM rating: Outstanding
- Score: 86.45%
- Size: 6101m2
- Stage: Design Stage
- BREEAM version: Education 2008
Further information
Overview of green strategy
Close collaboration, both within the project team and with the client, has been key to the creation of a highly sustainable, BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ building. BREEAM workshops have been held and considerable care taken with supply chain selections.
The design team has taken a particularly proactive role. Sustainability measures incorporated into the design include a combined heat and power unit (CHP) to generate both heat and electricity, photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof, and a rainwater/greywater harvesting system to reduce water consumption. The design also facilitates natural ventilation and cooling.
The construction phase has a strong focus on managing energy, water and waste streams and minimising consumption – exceeding standards of best practice in site management.
The site team is harvesting rainwater for use whilst construction is in progress. They are also using a Twitter feed to keep the general public, including students who will use the building, updated on progress.
Environmental features
The building’s key environmental features include:
- An LED screen in the ground floor foyer displaying dynamic information relating to the PV, CHP and integrated water harvesting systems, and the DEC rating (after a year of operation).
- A 254m2 PV system that contributes to reducing of CO2 emissions by 32.3%, when compared to the building regulations’ Target Emission Rate.
- Extremely efficient boilers and CHP systems that meet the energy heating demand whilst also minimising NOx emissions (less than 40 mg/KWh).
- Use of propane as the refrigerant for all chillers in the building to reduce CFC use.
- WCs with 4.5 litre flushes and delayed fill valves, taps with flow rate restrictors, showers limited to a maximum flow of 9 litres/minute, and toilets with presence detectors so that water only flows when they are in use.
- A detailed building management system (BMS) integrated into data displays on each floor, which also integrates with LSE’s existing BMS.
- Use of the building’s design to promote night-time heat purging for cooling and natural ventilation.
- Perforated bricks locally sourced from Coleford in Gloucestershire, which through varied finishes provide interesting lighting and notable solar gain that has a positive influence on the BMS.
- A staggered eastern façade (and main entrance) to aid ventilation and lighting, and to ensure that lighting to existing buildings has not been compromised.
The BREEAM assessment
The development scored highly in most issues covered by the BREAM assessment, notably achieving 100% of the available credits in the Management, Transport and Water categories, as well as 80% of the credits for Land Use & Ecology.
Project team details
- Client: London School of Economics and Political Science
- Architect: O’Donnell + Tuomey Projects Ltd
- Lead contractor: Osborne
- Structural engineer: Dewhurst Macfarlane
- M&E consultant: BDSP
- Quantity surveyor: Northcroft
- Project Managers:Turner and Townsend
- BREEAM assessor: Irena Saniuk /BSRIA ltd
John Craig, head of Osborne's Education team, said:
'This is a landmark design with green credentials that will become London's most sustainable higher education building. Delivering a BREEAM Outstanding design exceeds the brief and this rating has only been achieved by the team collaborating closely together under LSE's direction.'
