The South West has seen an impressive boom in the renewable energy sector in recent months, with a massive take-up in solar farm projects across the region. Indicative of the international picture, the renewable technologies sector generates an estimated £3trn for the global economy.
One college in the South West has recognised the sector’s potential, by realising a project to create a centre that will not only teach about the industry, but is designed to showcase the very technologies it will be educating on.
Bicton College will see two barns (one disused, the other a stable) on its Home Farm transformed into what will become the EaRTH Centre – the Environmental and Renewable Technology Hub.
Cleverly and appropriately named, the hub will open to the public offering short courses on the range in sustainable technologies of wind, sunlight, wave or waste.
Born from a concept devised by a former tutor, their knowledge formed the concept of teaching renewable energy. This led to consultations with Granted, a company specialising in generating revenue streams from sustainability. Turning these concepts into a design was facilitated by Exeter-based TFQ Architects.
"We identified the need to meet the demand for green technology. The South West needs to train 500 renewable energy installers a year for 10 years," say Granted in their project outline.
The two single-storey buildings will be joined together by a new build, creating a split level building: "The total area is about 300m2. We’re undertaking a partial demolition and refurbishment, plus constructing a new building to link the two together," said architect Simon Glanville.
The architects have set out to use locally sourced materials where possible, with an emphasis on minimising the use of concrete and chemically produced materials. Instead, the building will be constructed using timber weatherboard cladding, slate roof coverings and additional timber for the roof structure, lime-based plaster finishes on reed board substrates, plus the use of locally manufactured eco paints.
The retrofitting of the two barns will include the use of natural sheep’s wool for insulation. It is hoped these measures will provide a strong case towards achieving a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating.
TFQ have also integrated passive techniques to achieve a thermally efficient building envelope, while exploiting the opportunity to use the existing historic building fabric through thermal mass design.
"We are looking to achieve an air tightness/permeability level of 3.5 m3/(h.m2) at 50 pa, which was considered to be a good target level for a refurbishment project of this nature," Mr Glanville said.
Both buildings present a long elevation due south, meaning solar PV and solar thermal could be adequately included in the design for maximum sun utilisation. The solar installation will be the largest contributor to achieving the project’s foreseen carbon neutrality, providing over 8,000kWh per annum for the 65.71m2 area.
"As well as the plugged-in technology such as the solar PVs where we are utilising the sun path, the building is predominantly set up around passive technology, such as passive stack ventilation," Mr Glanville commented.
The centre will run whole education courses so people can learn about the range of technologies, and the building will demonstrate these things in practice," he added.
Technologies that have fed into the design include biomass heating, grey water systems, ground and air source heat pumps, solar PV and thermal cells, under floor heating and a green roof. The aim is to have these technologies on show as a focal point for workshops, and will also be serviced as part of courses ran by Bicton College.
Mr Glanville estimates the build cost will total around £1m. Funding was secured from Devon County Council, grant scheme Making it Local, plus sponsorship from EDF Energy for the use of the solar panels.
It is expected the project will be finished in time for the new academic year in September, where the college can begin to drive forward educating in renewable technologies in a region that displays a growing demand.
When asked about education in the renewable energy sector, Mr Glanville said he believed there was a shortage.
"Research has shown there is a lot of technology out there, but a lack of training in this area. Our demographic research showed us in our pre-assessment that there was a real need for this thing in Devon. These technologies are gaining more and more momentum in the building industry."
www.bictonearth.co.uk
All images courtesy TFQ Architects.