Robust modelling and an intelligent redesign enabled BDP to retain natural ventilation in Northamptonshire County Council’s new offices. Andy Pearson finds out how collaborative value engineering resulted in a CIBSE Building Performance Award
Category: Case Studies
Case study: Cambridge Central Mosque
Cambridge’s elegant new mosque has comfort and sustainability at its heart thanks to the involvement of the environmental engineer at the project’s inception. Andy Pearson looks at how Skelly & Couch’s creative design worked with the grand scale of the prayer hall to provide natural ventilation and daylighting for more than 1,000 worshippers
Force of nature – naturally ventilating Amsterdam’s Breeze Hotel
The 11-storey Breeze Hotel in Amsterdam has a unique natural ventilation system that uses solar chimneys and water droplets sprayed into a shaft to move air around the building. Andy Pearson speaks to the academic behind the concept, Dr Ben Bronsema, and looks at how his ‘earth, wind and fire’ theory became reality
Case study: Lark Rise, the UK’s first Passivhaus Plus
A Passivhaus Plus home in the Chiltern Hills establishes the ‘building as a power station’ concept and shows the viability of an electrical grid powered by renewable energy. Andy Pearson reports
Silent treatment: acoustic design in an open plan school
The design brief for Trumpington Community College was for open teaching spaces overlooking a large, airy atrium. The challenge for Max Fordham’s acoustic engineers was ensuring teachers were not disturbed by noise from neighbouring spaces. Andy Pearson reports
Measuring beyond energy in a school POE
Evidence gathered from a school campus in London shows the lessons that can be learned from a holistic approach to building design and operation, which improves energy performance while ensuring indoor environment quality. By lead author Nishesh Jain, Dr Esfand Burman and Dr Craig Robertson
Mirvac’s gold standard – Building Performance Champion 2019
Mirvac’s 37-storey building towered over its rivals to win CIBSE’s coveted Building Performance Champion Award. Andy Pearson examines the holistic approach to design to deliver both occupant comfort and energy outcomes
Engineering façades at Zaha Hadid’s Morpheus hotel
The design of the jaw-dropping Morpheus Hotel in Macau has a 40-storey, free-form exoskeleton that would not have been possible without the skill of the façade engineers. Andy Pearson talks to BuroHappold Engineering about the 30 façade systems needed to realise the striking design
Sporting highlights – how daylighting slashed energy use at Oriam Sports Performance Centre
The services design for the CIBSE award-winning Oriam Sports Performance Centre minimises energy use while maintaining optimum conditions for playing sport. Andy Pearson finds out how Max Fordham was able to maximise daylighting and natural ventilation, and – at the same time – meet strict requirements for lighting and overheating
Make way for the revolution – inside SES Engineering Services’ M&E factory
With contractors increasingly turning to offsite construction, we speak to some of the pioneers delivering prefabricated M&E. In the first of a regular series, Alex Smith visits SES Engineering Services’ factory, in York, to find out how its factory focus is helping to change the culture of construction