The development at Houghton le Spring has received the highest award for best practice in sustainable design and environmental performance, meeting a score of 85% against strict criteria.
Commissioned by Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust, the building is being constructed by Willmott Dixon and was designed by P+HS Architects, with sustainability a key driver.
We feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to design exemplary primary care facilities that are at the forefront of innovative and contemporary healthcare design
Stephen Naylor, head of estates at the PCT, said: “This rating is a suitable highlight to our programme of refurbishment and replacement of our primary care facilities, where we always try and seek the highest possible levels of sustainable performance.”
Explaining how they achieved the rating, Joe Biggs, managing director of P+HS, added: “Working in partnership with Willmott Dixon has provided many exciting design opportunities, in particular the incorporation of highly-sustainable building solutions to ensure that the impact of the building upon the environment is minimised. We feel extremely privileged to have the opportunity to design exemplary primary care facilities that are at the forefront of innovative and contemporary healthcare design.”
The scheme brings together sports, leisure and health and wellbeing facilities on one site, aiming to provide an accessible and holistic approach to healthcare delivery. The 7,500sq m scheme is due for completion in August 2011.
The building has been designed to be naturally ventilated using an innovative system designed by Breathing Buildings. Based on the principles of thermal mass and the stack effect, tempered air is delivered from an underground plenum via 49 chimneys to ventilate and condition the interior of the building. Ground source heat pumps are used to provide space heating, which required 103 bore holes to be drilled on the site to a depth of 120m. Rainwater harvesting will contribute to the site’s water requirements and a sedum roof will not only encourage biodiversity, but also attenuate rain overflow to reduce the drainage load. In addition, solar thermal panels will be installed to preheat domestic hot water and renewable energy sources such as a vertical axis wind turbine and 350sq m PV panels will further contribute to energy requirements.
The building has been designed to offer a flexible solution to service delivery, so that spaces can be readily adapted in response to either changing need or technology.
