Breathing Space, Rotherham
2008
Designed to bring in a breath of fresh air to sufferers of COPD, Rotherham’s new Breathing Space building combines modern architectural design with sustainable and healthy construction features. Central to the scheme is an atrium which is both naturally cooled and ventilated using the thermal mass of the building’s undercroft.
A steel frame was chosen for speed of construction and for its ability to easily integrate with structural elements, for example the gluelam roof and external walling. The steel structure provides straight-forward structural connections between these elements.
The design incorporates a number of sustainable principles and technologies:
- Natural ventilation and cooling
- Geothermal heating
- Solar hot water
- Breathable walls
- Minimal use of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Heating is provided by a closed loop geothermal heatpump system incorporating 24 boreholes, each 100m deep, which generates 150kW of low pressure hot water heating at a temperature of 45oC. This is supplied through a traditional underfloor heating system, each area having local thermostatic control.
The hot water for the building is supplemented by two 4m2 solar panels attached to an A-frame mounted on the dining room roof. The panels pre-heat the cold water supply before it enters the gas fired boilers, thus reducing the amount of gas required.
Fact file
Client
Rotherham Primary Care Trust, Coalfields Regeneration Trust
Architect
Howard Buckley
Design Development Team
Rotherham MBC Asset Management Service
Structural Engineers
Graham Lane, Mike Gibbons, Brian Lawrence
Natural Ventilation and Cooling
BP Institute for Multi-Phase Flow at the University of Cambridge
Fabricator
Eagle Fabrication & Insulation Services Ltd
