Located in Machynlleth, mid-Wales, the eco park was recently completed and let. It comprises three light industrial buildings: two units of 600 m2, with second storeys providing office accommodation, and a third single storey unit of 500 m2. It was conceived around 1993 following proposals from an enthusiastic architect, Julian Bishop of Acanthus Holden Architects, a receptive response from the WDA and the availability of an appropriate site.
It is usually difficult for WDA mid-Wales division (formerly the Development Board for Rural Wales) to find long-term tenants for its developments in this area, as market value is typically lower than construction cost. It perceived the environmental angle of this project as an appropriate marketing hook in a town known internationally for its centre for alternative technology.
In its role as employment facilitator, WDA was prepared to absorb the extra costs (estimated at 10-20% by the quantity surveyor) of a deep green approach, in order to secure embryonic industries of the future as tenants. They also hoped for, and have received in ample measure, wider marketing spin-offs.
The brief was guided by the relevant BREEAM1 and designed to minimise all aspects of building environmental impact. This covered the re-use of a brownfield site (a former railway goods yard), the selection of building materials, and the minimising of energy and water consumption, including occupants' transport to work (the site is adjacent to a railway station and on bus routes).
The development notably achieved all 31 of the available BREEAM credits, comfortably exceeding the 25 required for an excellent rating. Rather than cherry pick to achieve a given level, the WDA used BREEAM as its authoritative guide on how to address each issue. It appears not to have subjected each individual measure to cost benefit analysis but to have signed up for the whole package.
Both sets of current tenants have stated that the environmental agenda was the deciding factor in choosing these premises.
The first unit, completed in 1996 and occupied in 1997, is let to engineering consultancy, Dulas. The company specialises in solar, wind and hydro renewable energy, and needed the ground floor for m&e workshops.
The second unit was bought by Lovesgrove Research, an agrichemical development company with products such as environmentally-friendly insecticides. The company required the ground floor to be fitted out as advanced chemistry and biology laboratories.
The third unit is still available and space exists for a fourth. Already though, the three units at the eco park have demonstrated the variety of potential tenants that can be satisfied by the same basic shell.
An emerging market niche
As the boundary between scientific academia and commercial enterprise becomes increasingly blurred, a new breed of entrepreneur is emerging. These people are starting a cutting edge, high-tech industry, typically spawned from university research. They employ highly qualified staff such as post-doctoral scientists who are often keen for their employer to demonstrate awareness of global issues.
Such small enterprises are therefore attracted by mixed-use premises of a higher quality than traditionally found, and potentially by workplaces consistent with a company ethos attuned to solving global problems sustainably. The premises help to recruit staff in a highly competitive market and promote the company to prospective clients.
The buildings at Dyfi Eco Park, unlike many so-called green developments, really walk the talk: their environmental performance is proving to be highly robust. As might be expected with a maximum BREEAM score, their construction has had minimum environmental impact. In addition, the buildings' materials have possibly the lowest embodied energy of any UK non-domestic building yet assessed2.
The buildings are also intrinsically energy efficient: highly insulated fabric and an airtight construction (verified by pressure testing) combined with condensing boilers ensure a very low gas requirement for heating.
Efficient lighting with ergonomic and intuitive manual controls, combined with a natural ventilation strategy which precludes the need for mechanical fans or chillers, ensures electricity consumption is also low. The energy related CO2 emissions of unit one are the lowest of any non-domestic building for which reliable data is publicly available.
Detailed monitoring of unit one by the University of East London over two years, confirmed that the majority of the design has been successful in delivering both low energy performance and occupant satisfaction. Two interlinked areas with scope for refinement are glare and solar gain from the possibly too extensive rooflights, and the lack of thermal mass to moderate occasional high summertime temperatures. The former is currently being tackled by the erection of strategically placed sails during the summer months.
Another salutary lesson for designers, frequently noted in Probe studies but apparent even in this context, is the reluctance of occupiers to get involved in hands-on energy management. Intrinsic efficiency and, for this almost domestic scale of building, simple intuitive controls with manual overrides, are the order of the day. The tenants maintain that savings in energy running costs are negligible compared with other costs, and are more like icing on the cake in the building's cost-benefit balance. The most valued benefits are the potential marketing edge for recruitment and clients and the high quality work environment with its feel-good factor.
As for the developer, WDA is delighted to have two units occupied by sunrise industries in an employment blackspot. While Machynlleth may be a special case for this genre of building, it has provided an ideal proving ground. For any business wishing to offer or occupy truly green buildings in other locations, Dyfi Eco Park demonstrates a highly successful precedent, not just a green image.
References
1 Environmental assessment method for new industrial warehousing and non-food retail units, Version 5/93.
2 Embodied energy design study of unit one, Dyfi Eco Park, Davis Langdon & Everest, January 1996 (unpublished).
Source
Building Sustainable Design
