Lancaster to have the first BREEAM Outstanding building

Lancaster University has awarded the construction contract for the new £10m building which will provide performance space for the Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts (LICA). The Building will be built to the BREEAM ‘outstanding’ standards, and will be the first Higher Education building in the UK to reach such strict environmental targets for construction .

Work is due to begin on site on Monday 19th October 2009 and the facility will be open for the academic year in September 2010.

LICA combines four academic groups; Art, Design, Music and Theatre Studies as well as three public arts facilities; the Peter Scott Gallery, the Nuffield Theatre and the International Concert Series. It also hosts the research group ImaginationLancaster.

The timber framed building set in woodland on the north campus will be the public face of the LICA groups, with a stage for the nationally and internationally recognised work produced at Lancaster University.

The 3000 square metre environmentally-friendly timber building will be wrapped in translucent cladding which will filter varying degrees of light into the interior. The main accommodation includes three interlinked social spaces, with open plan offices upstairs.

The architects Sheppard Robson have designed the development with the aim of it becoming the UK’s first higher education project to achieve the new “outstanding” rating under the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating.

This will include natural ventilation, reduced energy consumption and the use of sustainable materials such as timber.

The contractor is Morgan Ashurst.

To date the University has delivered seven BREEAM Excellent new builds and there are a further two BREEAM Excellent new builds currently onsite.