This news piece was written by Pilar Garcia from the UWE Bristol Estates and Facilities team.
UWE Bristol’s new School of Engineering building on Frenchay campus has achieved an “Excellent” rating for its green credentials from the international scheme BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method).
BREEAM is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings in the UK. Our rating demonstrates that the building is in the top 10% of UK new non-domestic buildings for sustainability best practice.
Our assessor Hydrock Consultants Ltd carried out a comprehensive assessment of:
- Management
- Health and Wellbeing
- Energy
- Transport
- Water
- Materials
- Waste
- Land Use and Ecology
- Pollution
- Innovation
Examples of the sustainability best practice employed in the building include having lots of natural ventilation, installing PV (solar) panels, connection to UWE Bristol’s district heating network, use of underfloor heating and use of materials with high thermal mass (the ability of a material to absorb and store heat energy).
Tod Burton, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Technology, said: “Engineering is about problem-solving and the climate emergency is arguably our greatest challenge of all. It is important that the building used by our student engineers as they develop their problem-solving skills has now been recognised by BREEAM as “Excellent” for its sustainability performance – a great achievement and credit to everyone associated with the project”.
The project was also rated 100% for “Management”. This is a real testament to what can be achieved by #TeamUWE and the Engineering Building Project Team should be particularly proud.
The Project Team:
- Tod Burton – Deputy Dean, FET
- Lisa Brodie – Head of Department: Engineering Design ＆ Mathematics
- Marianne Reed – Senior Programme Manager
- Chris English – Head of Technical Services, FET
- Elena Marco – Head of Department: Architecture and the Built Environment
- Stephen Denning – Estates Project Manager, Estates and Facilities
- Doug MacLeod – ITS Strategic Business Partner
- Richard Dewey and Paul McCluskey – BAM Contractors
- Andrew Lintern and Darren Edson – Capita
- Jim Crouch – MACE
- Adam Spall and Hira Teirney – AHR Architects
- Stuart Hitchcock, Eunan Scanlon & Simon Nation – Hydrock Consultants
Alistair Brooke, Assistant Director of Estates said: “A fantastic achievement for UWE Bristol and the Project Team. Strong collaboration enabled sustainability to be embedded from the early stages of the project and ultimately led to the success of the scheme. The project is a further endorsement of UWE Bristol’s commitment to sustainability and innovation across its estate.”
Find out more and view more images of the building on the UWE Bristol website.