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Volume 4, Number 4
www.sustainability-journal.com
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
SUSTAINABILITY
http://www.Sustainability-Journal.com
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Design for Sustainable Architecture and Environments
Behzad Sodagar, University of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UNITED KINGDOM
Rosemary Fieldson, Simons Group, Lincolnshire, UNITED KINGDOM
Bryce Gilroy-Scott, Hill Holt Wood Social Enterprise, Lincolnshire, UNITED KINGDOM
Abstract: This paper describes some of the research outcomes of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project partly
funded by Department of Trade and Industry, UK. One of the aims of the project was to plan and develop designs for a
range of autonomous eco-buildings through research into autonomous eco-building systems and techniques in order to
identify best practice and the most appropriate systems for low-carbon buildings. The design of the Community Hall offering
accommodations for a multi functional hall, café and exhibition, and offices, has been developed through partnership with
mainstream design and construction companies in the region. Following a successful planning application and external
fund raising exercise, the construction of the building is due to start shortly. The structure will be constructed using locally
sourced materials and is designed to be ‘renewable’ whilst exceeding all the requirements of the current Building Regulations.
It examines the potential of non traditional construction techniques and materials. The total environmental impact of the
design as the result of environmental loads occurring during the life span of the building is estimated and compared with
conventional practice. The building incorporates rain water collection, waste treatment, composting toilets and photovoltaics.
Keywords: Sustainable Design and Construction Autonomous Buildings, Renewable Energies, Embodied and In-Use Energy,
Carbon Footprinting, Whole Life Cycle Analysis
of developments (Sodagar, et.al. 2006). Sustainable peating impact is the result of energy use for heating,
buildings are prerequisite to the creation of sustain- lighting, ventilating and cooling and the repairs and
able communities in which people will be happy to refurbishments occurred during the usable life of a
live; their needs and aspirations are met without building. The final stage, the deconstruction, happens
damaging their environment or causing problems for when the building is demolished.
other communities or future generations (McLennan, Methodologies and evaluations tools exist to as-
2004). Edwards and Hyett (Edwards & Hyett, 2001) sess the environmental impact of designs and build-
define sustainable construction practice as; “Archi- ings. In the UK the widely used method is BREEAM
tects, builders and engineers who can create useful -Building Research Establishment Environmental
social products (buildings) using the minimum of Assessment Method which may be used to evaluate
resources so that future generations have their share”. the environmental impact of buildings (REEAM,
The philosophy of sustainable planning and develop- 2006).
ment is therefore not only a question of designing
for energy efficiency.
Design Development of a Sustainable
Different terms are being used for sustainable
Community Hall
design including ‘green architecture’ ‘climate respons-
ive architecture’, ‘high-performance’ and similar A two year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
terms (Kibert, 2005). Kibert concludes that all have partially funded by Department of Trade and Industry
one key objective; to apply principles through the (DTI) was concluded in August 2007 with Lincoln
entire life cycle of construction, from planning to School of Architecture and Hill Holt Wood (HHW)
disposal. One of the fundamental principles of sus- as knowledge and commercial partners respectively.
tainable architecture is that it should work with and One of the aims of the KTP project was to plan and
not against nature. It should aim to achieve the develop designs for a range of autonomous eco-
maximum use of ambient energy sources in the cre- buildings, starting with a Woodland Community Hall
ation of internal environments that are, as far as on the 32-acre Wood site of HHW in the East Mid-
possible, naturally sustained. It is important to realize lands, UK.
that in order to achieve a sustainable architecture, an The design of the Community Hall was generated
integrated approach to design is required and appro- as a student design competition in Studio 4 at the
priate design strategies must be formulated at the Lincoln School of Architecture under supervision of
outset. the first author of this paper (B Sodagar, 2007). Si-
Sustainable architecture should be logical in its mons Design, part of Simons Group, became in-
use of technology. Technology must be subservient volved in the project and assisted with obtaining de-
to design and not a goal. While some buildings may tailed planning permission for the scheme. The pro-
use low-tech solutions to achieve their goals, intelli- ject has succeeded in securing additional external
gent systems and elements may require specification funding of £257,500 so far towards the construction
under special circumstances. cost of the building which is planned to start in Feb-
For a building to be sustainable, it must respond ruary 2008. Simons Design was awarded the 2007
to the social and economic conditions of the context ‘Business and Community Award’ for its pro bono
within which it exists. It also needs to respond to involvement in the project while the University and
possible future changes in its use which may happen Hill Holt Wood were granted the ‘KTP Outstanding
due to different future socio- economic conditions. Award’.
A building therefore should be flexible and adapt-
able.
Building Arrangement
The Community Hall offers facilities for meetings,
Whole Life Cycle Analysis
conferences, and social activities. The building is
In order to achieve a truly sustainable construction, split into three use groups; the Hall, the Link and the
all the environmental impacts of buildings must be Black Box. The interior spaces are organized in a
considered. The total environmental impact of a way to offer a high level of adaptability. (Figures
building is the result of environmental loads occur- 1,2,3,4,5 and 6).
ring during the life span of the building. These are; The circular Hall is designed to accommodate up
initial impact, annually repeating impact and decon- to 50 people. Its walls are rammed earth with soil
struction impact (van den Dobbelsteen and van der obtained from the site and insulated with cork. The
Linden, 2005). The initial impact is caused during excavation required to provide the soil will allow
the design and construction of the building including construction of pond areas adjacent to the structure
the project management activities, material use, for amenity purposes. The Hall roof will incorporate
construction processes and waste. The annually re- a timber Reciprocal Frame three-dimensional grillage
BEHZAD SODAGAR, ROSEMARY FIELDSON, BRYCE GILROY-SCOTT 75
which is constructed using mutually supporting The small slab underplaying the composting toilets
beams to form a closed circuit (Figure 7). The timber will use Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag
will be extracted from Hill Holt Wood and other (GGBS) as the binding agent as the resulting concrete
local woodlands managed by Hill Holt. will be less permeable than a standard concrete and
The foundations of the entire building will be using the GGBS is recycling an industrial by-product
made from limecrete. Limecrete is an experimental that otherwise would be treated as waste.
material in terms of its use as mass structural mater- The Link, with a sedum roof and largely glazed
ials in construction in the UK. The Limecrete formu- walls, houses the café and exhibitions. This construc-
lation will be based on a Natural Hydraulic Lime, tion will provide a tempered environment to staff,
strength grade 5. This material has achieved com- trainees and visitors with doors standing open in
pressive strengths of up to 19 N/mm2 in laboratory summer months to achieve an out door – indoor
testing. The limecrete aggregate will be a primary space.
material obtained locally and the 250mm raft The Black Box houses a plant room, kitchen and
foundation will be steel reinforced. It has been calcu- ancillary offices and is constructed in highly insu-
lated that the material offers approximately 21% CO2 lated timber construction with a photo-voltaic tiled
reduction per m3 over standard C20 concrete using roof. Photovoltaic cells generate most of the electri-
Ordinary Portland Cement (Lime Green Ltd. Report city for the building. The ground floor of the Black
to Client, January 7, 2007). Box includes three building-integrated dry compost-
ing toilets.
A series of computer simulation modelling using throughout the year in areas which may be used by
ECOTECT (Square One) have been performed to the public. The calculated space heating demand in
analyze energy performance of the design. Monitor- the first floor office to keep the temperature above
ing stations will be embedded into construction of 19oC is only 34 KWh from May to September. It is
the building to measure surface and interstitial tem- therefore assumed that this heating circuit may be
perature gradients together with moisture contents switched off during the summer in this zone. The
of materials. Internal and external ambient conditions total annual space heating load for the building is
will also be recorded. 6825 KWh. The total gross internal floor area of the
Calculated monthly heating loads are shown in building is 297 m2 giving a figure of
figure 8. The Community Hall building is a multi 23KWh/m2/year. The heating demand for “Good
functional one and hence may be used by different Practice” community centres is reported to be in the
user groups including the elderly and children. It is order of 125KWh/m2/year while that for “Typical
assumed that the space heating should be provided Practice” being 187KWh/m2/year (CIBSE, 2004).
BEHZAD SODAGAR, ROSEMARY FIELDSON, BRYCE GILROY-SCOTT 79
Accurate bills of quantities are fundamental to calcu- removed and quantities that have been separated for
lating the quantities of materials. In a conventional recycling. Published conversion factors for specific
building, it would be expected that the substructure waste types are limited, however at Hill Holt Wood,
including in-situ concrete represents around a third all waste from the build will be utilized in some way,
of the materials emissions. for landscaping, maintenance of other buildings and
Many of the materials have been calculated on the used as teaching aids for young learners on site,
basis of generic UK supply data from the Bath Car- therefore waste is assumed to be zero.
bon Inventory (Hammond and Jones, 2006). This is The fuel and transport strategy for the construction
a limited inventory giving a range of figures for process of Hill Holt Wood should demonstrate sav-
generic materials, more accurate data for specific ings against a conventional building construction
products can be obtained from some suppliers, with process particularly as much of the work will be
limited levels of comparability in calculation. This manual, however an estimate has been assumed until
data base is not applicable when utilizing home actual results are complied at completion of the build.
grown or site sourced materials such as timber Simons Group have found that a commercial non-
shingles and cladding, and reclaimed materials such mains connect site can use around 34kgCO2/m2
as plaster board off-cuts, stone and brick. Taking (Fieldson and Smith, 2007). This is based on a much
these materials into account is difficult to calculate, larger building site with economies of scale for de-
supply of each quantity and work package must be liveries. An estimated total of 12tCO2 has been as-
documented as the construction programme pro- sumed to cover plant used on site such as diggers
gresses and it is necessary to assume the generic rate and chainsaws, deliveries of materials to site, work-
until work is completed. Mechanical and electrical force travel and subcontractors direct emissions for
plant is also an area with limited available data, an installation.
assumption has been made to cover the large area of
photovoltaics integrated in the roof (Hammond and
In-Use Energy and Systems
Jones, 2006) and conventional services required for
lighting heating and small power. Hill Holt Wood is an autonomous site, therefore there
are no mains services into the Wood. The Woodland
Community Hall project has been based on the
Construction Process
premise of producing an exemplar low energy
BREEAM(2006) assessment requires that fuel, building that is self-sufficient to the greatest degree
transport to site, water and waste are monitored, al- possible, for its provision of heat and power, as well
though recording of these areas of resource use are as for building services such as water and sewerage.
not regulated in any way. Current best practice ad- The calculated potential rainfall that could be
vocates surveying all incoming and outgoing vehicles harvested by the 183m2 of surface area suitable for
for distance travelled and engine type to obtain rainwater capture, at an assumed Coefficient of Per-
emissions data and recording delivered fuel and water formance (due to evaporation and splash losses) of
and meter readings. Many larger construction sites 70%, results in an annual resource of 76,950L.
in the UK now use waste handling contractors who The reedbed system design is for an ecological
are able to provide detailed breakdowns of waste sanitation system that has a surface area of 6.25m2
82 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL, CULTURAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL
SUSTAINABILITY, VOLUME 4
Table 3: Estimated Whole Life Emissions (WLE) for the HHW Building
tCO2
Project Management 3
Materials 113
Construction process 12
In-Use energy 18
Deconstruction 4
Total 150
BEHZAD SODAGAR, ROSEMARY FIELDSON, BRYCE GILROY-SCOTT 83
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Bryce Gilroy-Scott
Bryce Gilroy-Scott completed his undergraduate degrees at the University of Victoria, Canada in the early
1990’s followed by several years work with community development projects. He completed a Certificate in
Community Economic Development at Simon Fraser University, Canada in 2002 followed by a year of fieldwork
in Central America. He has recently completed his MSc Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy
Systems from the University of East London and the Centre for Alternative Technology with distinction. He is
the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Associate between Hill Holt Wood and the University of Lincoln and is
currently the Sustainability Manager at Hill Holt Wood. He is also reading for his MA Architecture: Development
and Regeneration at the University of Lincoln.
EDITORS
Amareswar Galla, The University of Queensland and Director, Pacific Asia
Observatory for Cultural Diversity in Human Development.
Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.