Case Studies
The Next Generation Infrastructure project brings scientists together into multi-disciplinary houses creating a ‘collaboratory’ of wet and dry science activities.
We applied current standards of the zero-carbon agenda to all elements of the project in order to assess the embodied and operational carbon impacts. We carried out the TM54 analysis to evaluate the operational performance of the building at stage 2, rather than stage 3 or 4, which identified areas where energy use could be reduced.
Detailed studies of the lab and office usage identified where area savings could be made without impacting research activity or opportunities for collaboration. The area reductions in the offices allowed the use of narrower floorplates, maximising daylighting, reducing operational costs and enhancing wellbeing. A sizeable portion of the roof plant space was reclassified from internal to external space, using fewer materials and further reducing cost.
Generally, heavy construction is favoured to control vibration performance, but this often means pouring vast quantities of concrete to form floor plates – and cement accounts for 8% of global carbon emissions. Our design included an optimised structural approach to the superstructure with a fully timber solution for the office areas and a hybrid timber and concrete frame for the labs. Combined, this offered a significant reduction in embodied carbon while meeting the specification vibration requirements for the laboratory.
Further information on our design approach can be found in our Achieving Net Zero Labs guide.
