Sustainable Student Accommodation Wins Award
Lancaster University’s Eco-Residences have been awarded first place in the Environmental Design category at the Chartered Institution of Building Service Engineers (CIBSE) North West Region Annual Awards.
The project at County and Grizedale Colleges is also shortlisted for an Environmental Sustainability Award in the Centre for Construction and Innovation’s North West Regional Construction Awards 2009, which will take place at Southport Theatre and Convention Centre on May 21.
These are the latest in a series of accolades for the pioneering Eco-Residence, which was designed by Lancaster University and property providers UPP in order to combine environmental sustainability with affordable rents for students.
- The Eco-Residences is a UK BREEAM Award winner in the Multi-Residential category. The BREEAM Awards recognise the highest scoring buildings certified under BREEAM, which sets the standards for best practice in sustainable design.
- The Eco-Residences also received a BREEAM Excellent rating for its high quality example of good environmental design.
- The Eco-Residences received a Secured by Design award from the Association of Chief Police Officers for crime prevention features including overlooked pathways and secure windows and doors.
Alan Haydock, Senior Project Manager for the Eco-Residences was presented with the CIBSE award at the annual ceremony in Manchester. He said:
"I was delighted to collect the award on behalf of the project team. It recognises the University's efforts to create sustainable student accommodation. The Eco-Residences have proved very popular with the students and have helped educate them on living an environmentally friendly lifestyle.”
The Eco-Residence puts Lancaster University in the lead when it comes to sustainable development in the HE sector and, as the first replicable scaleable model of its kind, is now being copied at other universities.
Its innovative design provides a total of 752 rooms, together with some one- and two-bedroom flats, in an environmentally-friendly home where students can monitor their utility consumption online.
Students can also enjoy the benefits of roof mounted solar thermal panels to preheat the hot water, lighting controlled by Passive Infra Red (PIR) units, enhanced air tightness and insulation levels.
By using timber sourced from sustainable, managed forests for the building’s superstructure, the carbon footprint was reduced by a third. Timber frames were also manufactured offsite in order to minimise waste.