Barnet’s first BREEAM Excellent Rating for Middlesex University’s Hatchcroft Building

Following a recent assessment, Middlesex University’s iconic Hatchcroft Building has been awarded a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, significantly exceeding current building regulations for achieving environmental sustainability. This also represents the first ‘Excellent’ rating to be awarded throughout the entire London Borough of Barnet (LBB).

About BREEAM

The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) was created in 1990, to evaluate the operational and environmental impacts of various building types.

BREEAM has become the world’s most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings, awarding credits for performance in areas such as energy, transport, land-use, pollution and ecology. BREEAM addresses issues associated with modern building methods from the design phase through to build and maintenance, allowing professionals to mitigate the environmental impacts of their developments, whilst assisting their clients in achieving sustainability.

To ensure that BREEAM consistently represents best practice, its requirements are regularly updated in response to new research undertaken, technological innovation and changing priorities in building regulations.

The Hatchcroft Building

The University’s new build is a three storey Teaching and Research Centre, specifically designed and built with the aim of reducing its environmental impact. The building will house the University’s School of Health and Social Sciences (HSSc) and School of Engineering and Information Sciences (EIS), which recently relocated from Enfield and will benefit from Hatchcroft’s new state-of-the-art teaching facilities. These facilities comprise two lecture theatres, specialist laboratories and associated ancillary space to accommodate subjects such as Environmental Health, Analytical, Biomedical, Microbiology, Psychology, Psychophysiology, Computing Science, Sports Health and Herbal Sciences.

1 MDX 08/10/08 (v4)

Left : Artist’s Impression of the iconic Hatchcroft Building at Middlesex University’s Hendon Campus

The total area of the site purchased for the Hatchcroft development was 0.7512 Hectares including the Grove Parkland area. The building’s dimensions and associated costs can be found in the table below :

Type of Cost £/m2 Basic Building 1,905 Services 763 External Works 116

The following table demonstrates breaks down the Hatchcroft Building’s gross floor area of 5,300m2 :

Functional Areas Total (m2) Teaching and Research 2,302 Technicians’ Areas and Offices 412 Lecture Theatres 368 Plant Area 203 Other Ancillary Areas 306 Other Areas Total (m2) Circulation 1,451 Storage 258

Sustainability

The Hatchcroft Building’s BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating is attributed to the achievement of a number of social and economically sustainable measures. These are listed below :

The building’s usage :

2 MDX 08/10/08 (v4)

• 48% of the Hatchcroft site is to be used by the community, including the Grove Parkland, located on the north and west sides of the building

The estimations for the building’s consumption :

• Predicted electrical consumption of 96.94 kWh/m2; • Predicted fossil fuel consumption of 10.34 kWh/m2; • Predicted renewable generation of 21.19 kWh/m2; and • Predicted water use per person of 2.24m3/person/year.

The key innovative and low impact design features of the building :

• The iconic structure is modelled and designed architecturally to allow Hatchcroft to compliment its surroundings, from its streetscape, height, materials through to the building’s circulation. This best fit was taken into consideration from the initial concept, throughout the design, planning and consultation phase.

• The incorporation of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system designed to provide heating in summer and cooling in winter. The vertical bore system sinks 55 boreholes to a depth of circa 60m within a 1400m2 area to the west of the site, interconnected back to the building’s energy centre. The primary energy from the boreholes piped back to the building is directed to 59 room heat pumps situated in the ceiling voids, which convert the energy to useful heating or cooling as required. The system is designed to provide up to 235 kW gross heating load and 190 kW of net cooling load.

• The installation of solar hot water panels on the South facing West end roof, using renewable energy from the sun to heat stored water for use in the building’s hot water system. The Hatchcroft Building includes a combined heat and power (CHP) system to provide low carbon emission heating and power to the building by efficiently reclaiming waste heat from the electrical generation process to heat the building or its hot water.

• The provision of natural ventilation through opening windows wherever possible to limit the need for mechanical ventilation.

• Utilisation of a night time cooling strategy that purges chilled air throughout the building overnight during the summer months, cooling the building’s surface and its core temperature that has built up during the day. This strategy reduces the cooling load required and its associated CO2 emissions and is bolstered by the use of solar shading and blinds.

• All practical materials were derived in accordance with the Green Specification Guide.

• Materials were recycled such as hardcore generated from the demolitions being re-used in the permanent works.

• The clearance and correct disposal of contaminated materials such as asbestos and 3 MDX 08/10/08 (v4)

tarmacadam.

• In association with the University’s travel and transport strategy to promote sustainable and green travel wherever possible, staff are offered incentives to use alternative transport to cars to travel to and from work. The Hatchcroft Building complied with the legal requirement for disabled parking and deliveries and provided covered, lit cycle racks based on occupancy numbers.

The following steps which were taken by Middlesex University and its contractors during the construction process to reduce the environmental impact of the building :

• Throughout this programme of works, the main contractor, , was committed to the “Considerate Constructors” scheme and successfully scored a high rating against assessed criteria.

• All waste was segregated and the quantities removed from site where recorded, including the percentage of each item type that was recycled. Materials were ordered from as local suppliers as possible.

• Weekly meetings were held throughout the contract with a constant agenda item aimed at reducing the energy use, to allow a 5% reduction in carbon emissions and waste generation. Monthly meter readings were taken by the site manager to record energy use.

• Staff and sub-contractors were encouraged to use public transport to travel to and from the site and in addition mini-buses were used to limit the number of vehicle trips to site. To reduce the need for contractors to leave site during the day a catering van delivering food and drinks at break times was provided.

• A monthly newsletter was distributed to local residents to inform them about the project and its forthcoming activities. Local community projects were also undertaken throughout the contract.

• The University placed a huge emphasis on ensuring that both internal and external people with an interest in the project were kept fully informed throughout the design and construction process.

Having successfully achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, Middlesex University remains committed to the ongoing sustainability of the Hatchcroft Building through rigorous monitoring and management. Minimisation of the building’s environmental impacts will continue to be developed, to accommodate any significant changes to building regulations and to maintain the University’s BREEAM rating.

4 MDX 08/10/08 (v4)

For further information on the University’s BREEAM rating, please contact Warren Forsyth via email ([email protected]). General information on BREEAM can be found on the official website : www.breeam.org.

5 MDX 08/10/08 (v4)