High Performing Buildings – November’s Roundup

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• High Performing Buildings – November’s Roundup

27 November 2024

November’s high performing building roundup features the first office refurbishment in the South East to achieve BREEAM Outstanding, a zero carbon university building in Canada and the winner of the RIBA International Prize.

 

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Explore, Richmond

 

Setting a new record for the South East, Explore in Richmond is one of three buildings in the region to have achieved BREEAM Outstanding and is the first to have undergone an extensive refurbishment. The scheme has also secured WiredScore Gold and Fitwell 2* accreditation.

The previous site was dilapidated and obsolete but is now a vibrant office space, funded by Barwood Capital’s Regional Property Growth Fund IV and delivered by RED Construction Group.

With an EPC rating of A, the building is also fitted with electric heating and cooling HVAC with no fossil fuels used on site.

 

Picture: a photograph from the interior of Explore in Richmond showing a communal seating area. Image Credit: Barwood Capital

 

Trent University’s Forensics Crime Scene Facility

 

Trent University’s Forensics Crime Scene Facility has become the first Canadian building to receive the Zero Carbon Certification from the International Living Future Institute (ILFI). The certification is held by just 11 buildings worldwide.

The building's construction and ongoing operation prioritised reducing embodied carbon and minimising operational carbon output, including electricity and natural gas usage. The facility contains climate friendly materials such as cellulose insulation and wood, to store carbon within the building structure. The site is powered by a 33-kilowatt solar panel that generates 30 per cent more electricity than the building requires. The surplus energy is shared with Otonabee College.

 

Modulus Matrix: 85 Social Housing 

 

Winner of 2024’s RIBA International Prize, Modulus Matrix: 85 Social Housing is a six-storey courtyard building of 85 flexible, socially rented homes near Barcelona using a timber frame construction.   

The building, designed by Peris + Toral Arquitectes, uses the tatami mat modular system of 3.6 x 3.6m, organised around a communal courtyard, with four circulation cores at each corner. Mesh screens and Barcelona shutters provide privacy and acoustic treatment.

RIBA President Muyiwa Oki described the project as “a radical approach to social housing that creates a place designed for people to adapt and inhabit in the long term.”

Picture: a photograph of Modulus Matrix: 85 Social Housing showing the external courtyard featuring a bicycle on a balcony and climbing plants on wire mesh. Image Credit: Jose Hevia

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 27 November 2024

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