Green Building ...
Over the last year the Trustees of the Centre and members of the STARR Initiative have risen to the challenge of developing a 'green' building, we employed CYMA Architects known for their work on historic buildings and their growing knowledge of sustainable build and we employed Chris Norris of the Woodley Coles Partnership as Project Manager for his expertise in and sympathy for community build projects. During this period we have developed a high quality, three stage green building project incorporating many exciting ‘green’ features, innovative new products and renewable energy technologies.
The first phase of the building work is now complete and we are soon to embark upon Phase Two. We have already installed and used a wide range of environmentally sound products and we have used sustainable building techniques and materials where ever possible. We have four categories at this stage and these are:
Water Saving Measures: we have installed highly efficient toilet cisterns, these use only 4.5 litres of water per flush, a saving 5.5 litres compared to the old cisterns. Due to the low volume of water used the pans themselves need to be specially designed and are manufactured in a state of the art energy efficient factory. We have used ‘waterless urinals’ in the gentlemen’s toilets, these units save us 80 litres per day and are designed to be chemical free in operation and maintenance. We are currently saving 240 litres of water per day; these are significant savings in terms of cost, as our water is metered and in demand for scarce water resources.
Construction: careful planning and good design mean we can reuse all of the bricks from on site demolition. The bricks were cleaned and reused to build new partition walls. The environmental benefit of this action was significant, less waste to landfill, savings in energy and materials used to make bricks, plus fuel and vehicle movement savings as there was no need to transport the bricks to site.
Timber was reused on site, reducing the need to buy more. New timber used was sourced from FSC sustainable sources, largely in the UK.
Plasterboard alternatives were used throughout, the product, ‘Fermacell’, is heavier and more robust making it suitable for areas of heavy use, it also has good sound and heat insulating properties. The board is made from gypsum waste and recycled cellulose fibres, the product contains a high volume of recycled material.
Interiors: In any community building thought should be given not just to the ease of maintenance but also to the health of the clients and the impact of the products used on the environment as a whole. Hence, we paid particular attention to the interior finishes. Environmentally friendly paints were used exclusively, we selected paints free from volatile organic compounds, containing only natural pigments and oils from natural sources such as citrus oils.
Innovative products: where possible we have sourced new products, many used for the first time in a project of this type. Most exciting is a range of recycled plastics; these have been used for a reception desk, doors and even vanity units. The use of this material helps support the recycling industry by using materials such as yoghurt pots, coffee cups and old CD’s, they also look great.
In the next two phases we will be introducing more exciting new materials, improving the building energy profile, installation renewable energy technologies, rain water harvesting systems, energy efficient lighting and we will be installing the first ‘brown roof’ on a community building in Kent.
Sourcing the products has taken time and involved additional expenditure, we have often been at the cutting edge of product use and have experienced problems along the way, is it worth it? Yes, it is, we have a unique opportunity to build a very ‘green’ community facility, the very first of its type in Kent, a potentially award winning building. We hope that this building will act as an example of best practice to local businesses and other community groups; it will also operate as an educational facility and a shop window for new technology and good design. We are trying to demonstrate that environmentally sustainable equates to financially sustainable and we hope that we are developing a facility that all of the people of Sandwich and the surrounding parishes will be able to use with pride.
