Sustainable Design
Elizabeth Fry Building
Location: East Anglia
Client: University of East Anglia
Size: 3,000 m2
Contract Value: £8m
The new building forms part of a concentrated development of teaching and student accommodation at the western end of the campus. The accommodation includes lecture theatres for undergraduate use at lower ground level, lecture rooms, seminar and tutorial spaces arranged for flexible use for external short courses and dining facilities and kitchen at upper ground level. Offices, tutorial and administrative functions, common rooms, resource space and post-graduate rooms for the Faculty of Social Work are located on upper floors.
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The building fulfils the brief for very high sustainability. To achieve low energy comfort, ambient conditions are maximised by using the building structure as an energy store, combined with low pressure mechanical ventilation, heat recovery and opening windows. To assist low energy consumption, the building envelope is insulated and is airtight, with no thermal bridging, giving minimal solar gain. The building has a minimal heat demand of 24Kw (two domestic wall mounted boilers) and no mechanical cooling, serving a building of 3000m2 with a potential occupancy of 850 people. The scheme has been hailed as setting new standards in sustainability.
