Showcasing not one, but four, renewable energy sources, the Ecos Centre in Ballymena, Northern Ireland is a prime example of sustainable design. Ecos meets over 60% of its energy demand from renewable sources, reducing energy usage through innovative thinking and maximising sustainability in choice of materials.
This visitor centre reflects its public message of environmental responsibility in all facets of its building services design.
As well as renewable energy, the centre also utilises other examples of building services best practice such as natural ventilation integrated with smoke control, displacement ventilation in the lecture theatre, underfloor heating, low-energy lighting, variable speed drives on fan motors and off-site prefabrication of all pipework connections for the biomass chp unit.
Full of technology, it develops the concept of environmental sustainability to a new level
And the runners up....
Ove Arup & Partners
The Jubilee Campus at the University of Nottingham is the world's first sustainable campus. Within the design of the building services, Arup has developed integrated building services systems which have been applied for the first time on a large-scale project.
David Miles & Partners
The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture is based in the grounds of Middlesex University's Hertfordshire campus. The challenge was to produce a stable internal environment for the collections and exhibits, and environmental control of rooms for museum staff and visitors. The judges said: "A good response to a technically demanding project – the team did a bang on job".
Source
Building Sustainable Design
Postscript
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