Making the future Park sustainable
BRIEF NOTES FROM A MEETING (28.11.11) WITH MARK WILSON AND JANE GRAY TO DISCUSS MAKING THE PROPOSED YOUTH/COMMUNITY HUB SUSTAINABLE
To supply energy to the Hub Mark suggested using:
Solar PV panels on the south facing side.
Vertical access wind turbine, which would be about house height and quiet (see Colchester Garrison for similar one).
The café and toilets could be heated with a ground source heat pump, which has less maintenance costs, less noise; the pump would heat the space or if larger would also provide hot water. (see the National Energy Foundation in Milton Keynes).
The heat pump could be supplemented by an automated wood pellet stove, which would need a store to hold the wood pellets but the whole system is automated with the wood pellets fed in by an auger. There will be a Government Green Renewable Heating Incentive with a feed-in tariff in the next few years.
With the right building materials, insulation and draught proofing, 85-90% heat reduction can be achieved.
The innovative nature of the building could be a strong promotional advantage for Kier and would give all the young people involved in the project first hand experience of sustainable building.
It may be possible to run the lighting at the park with a green solution.
To maximise solar gain, large windows should be placed at the south facing side, which will make the building very light and airy. These could be covered by shutters at night, like the Olympic White Water Rafting site in Waltham Abbey.
Water:
The Discovery Centre at Braintree has grey water re-cycling and rainwater harvesting is key at a house that Mark is involved with in Wenden’s Ambo.
The drinking water, showers, basins and kitchen water must come from the mains but all the roof water and even the water collected in the skatepark bowl drains can be harvested to flush toilets etc:
To have reed bed filtration to get rid of toilet waste it is necessary to have high foot-fall in the building. In the middle of the reed beds we could have ponds for ecological benefit.
Roof:
A sedum roof is a possibility but not a grass one as these get untidy. Sedum planting on the roof will filter and store the rainwater as well as insulate the building and it is possible to get strong architectural lines with sedum. (see Riverside Care Home in Witham).
Full pipe built by Dreamland in Italy
cateogories: News
