Specifiers Journal 2015-2016

EDUCATION
The Enterprise Centre
University of East Anglia
The Enterprise Centre at The University
of East Anglia, dubbed by the press as
the UK’s greenest building, has been
designed and is being delivered to
achieve the Passivhaus standard and
a BREEAM outstanding rating. The new
university building aims to encourage
new sustainable businesses from
graduates who emerge from its
academic research programme and
those involved in activities within the
wider Norwich Research Park.
The Enterprise Centre will provide
space for business support workshops,
networking activities, open plan
offices, incubation and hatchery
space (research and development
activities) for new graduate startup
companies and other businesses in
the Knowledge Economy. The building
also provides a base for business
support through the University’s Low
Carbon MBA and associated graduate
development and entrepreneurship
programmes.
Rationale
The building is an important element
of the demonstration, awareness and
bespoke support process; providing
live and historical data of the
performance of renewable materials
in a format that is industry standard.
By being able to physically see the
materials and data change over time
and understand the impacts, this is
the 1st international building to offer
Passivhaus performance alongside
renewable materials.
Embodied within it will be a range of
carbon monitoring systems which can
show the impacts on energy efficiency
and carbon offsetting. Cross sections
of floors, walls and ceilings will be
exposed so that the configuration of
the installed materials can be readily
demonstrated. New materials can be
substituted over time to provide up to
date knowledge of materials which
have recently been introduced. The
building has become a key element
in the University’s estate master plan.
To meet the requirements of the brief,
we have designed the building to meet
a 100 year design life, Passivhaus
certification and BREEAM Outstanding.
The building also exceeds the local
planning requirement for 10% of
the building’s energy to be from
renewables through the use of roof
mounted PVs. Embodied energy has
been a major focus at design stage.
Currently the design is well above
Best Practice, with embodied carbon
(including sequestration) between
1/5 and 1/4 of many new university
buildings.
Landscaping is a critical component
of our scheme. We have reinforced
the link with the historic gardens of
Earlham Hall, retained many of the
existing landscape features, including
the beech hedge, and incorporated
new landscape features such as the
central courtyard, an echo of other
adjacent courtyards, featuring a
beautiful flint SUDs bed surrounding
the main lecture theatre.
Consultation Process
We have undertaken a signification
amount of consultation and
engagement which has underpinned
the development of the project,
alongside the team’s thorough
commitment to collaborative
working. This has occurred at many
different levels, from intimate
sessions with the user client, to
large stakeholder workshops and
numerous engagements with Norwich
City Council Planning Authority,
Conservation Officers, Greater Norwich
Development Partnership Design
Review Panel, Highway and Parks and
Open Spaces Committees, as part of
the formal pre-application process.
The process also included an exhibition
of the proposed designs through
August 2012, where members of the
community were invited to comment
on the proposals, and a presentation
was given to the Norwich Forum for
the Construction Industry.
46 SPECIFICATION JOURNAL 2015-2016