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 | | NEW NATURE RESERVE VISITOR CENTRE SETS THE STANDARD FOR SUSTAINABLE DESIGN | | | LSI Architects | | 25/05/2007 | | | LSI Architects has announced the completion and opening of a cutting-edge, sustainable Visitor Centre at Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) Cley Marshes Nature Reserve on the North Norfolk Coast. The new £675k facility, commissioned by NWT in November 2004, utilises an extensive range of sustainable features and materials to minimise the environmental impact of the building on its surroundings. The new Centre provides Cley with a valuable community resource and visitors with an inspiring, ground-hugging building from which they can enjoy and learn about this unique and beautiful environment. The new development includes a reception, shop, café, observation and interpretation space with new interactive and educational equipment.
The project consisted of the design and construction a new Visitor Centre and surrounding external works, together with the refurbishment of an existing timber and thatch visitor facility at the site. The car park capacity has also been increased, from 40 to 130 spaces.
The NWT Cley Marshes Visitor Centre will be open to the public throughout Architecture Week 2007 from 15th-24th June, 10am-5pm daily. Architecture Week is the national, annual celebration of architecture and this year’s theme is “How Green is Our Space?” exploring issues of sustainable design, energy efficiency, recycled materials and physical green spaces within the built environment.
On 19th June, representatives of NWT will be joined by LSI Architects to give tours of the new building between 1.30pm-3.30pm. LSI Architects will also be available from 12.30pm-4.30pm to answer any questions relating to the design of the new Visitor Centre.
Brendan Joyce, Director of Norfolk Wildlife Trust, said: “Responding to a long standing vision of Norfolk Wildlife Trust for a new Visitor Centre at NWT Cley Marshes, LSI Architects engaged in detailed consultation with the local community and local Planning and Countryside Officers in developing their proposals for the building. Cley’s new Visitor Centre is a ‘green’ building that has successfully introduced new technology into a protected environment. The new Visitor Centre is inspiring and has been designed by LSI Architects with great sensitivity to blend seamlessly into this unique and outstanding environment. The architects have also ensured that the new site eases disabled persons’ access to and from the nature reserve and have introduced a disabled person’s lift. We are delighted with the overall environmentally- and user-friendly outcome.”
David Thompson, Principal Member of LSI Architects, commented: “To satisfy the budget and client brief for an ‘environmentally sound building’, we developed a suitable specification based upon locally sourced, readily available products that were familiar to the builder. Timber products are FSC certified throughout and natural paint finishes including mineral paint for the walls and natural hardwax, for wood and plywood surfaces, were opted for.”
David Thompson continued: “In terms of how efficient the renewable technology is, we envisage that the ground source heat pump (GSHP) and solar-thermal collectors will each contribute over 70% towards space heating and hot water provision respectively. The remaining 30% of the energy need, in each case, will be made up by the wind turbine which, at peak output, will supply 84% of the building’s electricity requirements. In total, the new Visitor Centre will produce 10,967 kg less CO2 per annum when compared with a typical new building (built to current standards) of this size and type.”
Located on a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), the centre’s design is directly inspired by its immediate landscape and topography, and is based on the use of natural, sustainable materials. Set 1 metre into the ground in an existing escarpment to minimise the appearance of the building from the nature reserve, the ground-hugging building form has a distinctive double curved, sedum moss covered roof which defines a gentle, natural curve over a strip of frameless glazing, affording 135-degree panoramic views across the nature reserve.
The roof gives a ‘green footprint’ to the building, encouraging butterflies and other insects and helping to attenuate rain water, easing discharge into the drainage system. The structural grid of the roof was developed to reflect standard plywood sheet sizes and minimise waste in its construction.
The L-shaped layout is intended to shelter the south-facing terrace from the coastal breeze. In this way, the building has been designed to respond to, rather than impose upon, the landscape. The sedum-moss system was installed from the roof deck upwards by a local, specialist sub-contractor. It was decided early on that proprietary gutters would be too expensive and so, after consultation with the sub-contractor, LSI Architects developed a roof edge profile based on pressure treated timber and WBP ply, with a pre-pattinated zinc fascia and birch-ply soffit. The roof and gutters were lined with Icopal’s ‘Greenpeace approved’ membrane system prior to installation of the sedum finish. The roof acts as a stressed skin built around a composite steel and timber frame made of FSC certified timber, including a pair of 22 metre long, curved spine beams supported over splayed columns. The overall effect is a structure that appears light with an open-plan main accommodation space. The roof’s doubled-curved design acts as an aerofoil to increase wind speed past the blades of the nearby wind turbine which provides power to the new facility.
A range of techniques and equipment have been incorporated into this building to minimise its negative impact on the environment. These include a wind turbine, ground source heat pump (GSHP) and solar thermal collectors, together costing £40k. The turbine is a 6KW Proven machine, mounted on a 9.5 metre high mast and has a wing span of 5.5 metres. As there are no batteries on site, energy produced by the turbine is either used immediately or ‘sold’ back to the grid in case of surplus. An integral electric boiler, powered by the turbine, comes into action when the heat provided by the GSHP is insufficient.
Due to more frequent flooding at the site, the new centre sits above the 1963 flood line of 5.31 metres above sea level.
The GSHP consists of an underground heating field (consisting of 400 linear metres of pipe) buried east of the building and a heat-exchanger, which converts a large amount of low-grade free heat energy from the ground into a small amount of higher-grade heat energy. This heat is fed into the building’s under-floor heating system. Evacuated tube-type solar thermal collectors supply 73% of the hot water to the kitchen and lavatory areas. The remaining 27% of hot water required will be heated via the electric boiler taking its power from the wind turbine. Covering 4m2, the solar thermal collectors are mounted on A-frames set at 30 degrees to the horizontal and located to the rear (south) side of the facility.
Other energy-saving, waste minimising measures include concrete walls made with at least 50% recycled ingredients (mainly PFA), reinforced concrete elements with a similar recycled PFA content and a highly insulated roof (complying with new Building Regulations Part L2A). Walls and floors are highly insulated with mineral wool and exceed statutory requirements. The walls are cavity construction. Blocks were sourced that contain 50% recycled aggregate. In-situ concrete elements have a similar recycled content.
The building features natural ventilation throughout and a sustainable site drainage strategy (SUDS) with permeable external surfaces and ‘soak-aways’ for rainwater, with the built in capacity for future rainwater harvesting.
The NWT Cley Marshes Visitor Centre also featured as a case study in LSI Architects’ Sustainability Seminar and Guide, launched as part of the BA Festival of Science held at Norwich Cathedral in September 2006. The results of this major 18-month research project found that 50% of all resources globally go into construction and 50% of CO2 emissions come from the construction and use of buildings. The seminar called for cultural change in the whole building design process and the accompanying guide addresses both practical and ethical considerations in building design, demonstrating that buildings can contribute to biodiversity and a sustainable future by using natural, local resources and by creating suitable inventions within the landscape. | |
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