Energy-efficient £48million building to house Cambridge University department

The Cambridge University Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy has just moved into a brand-new, energy efficient £48m building, a news report in the local media has revealed.

The building includes labs, offices and student lounges and is “extremely well insulated”, according to the design firm NBBJ’s Project Lead, Rebecca Mortimore.

A special ventilation system which provides natural air circulation for non-laboratory areas (labs need mechanised ventilation) is meant to help keep energy costs down, while the solar PV panels mounted on the rooftop will contribute 3% of the building’s target emissions cut of 10%, with the building’s “passive” design making up the rest of the carbon cut.

Furthermore, the panels will provide 17,000kWh of power throughout the year, according to the engineers’ figures, while a ‘green’ or living roof is planted with wild flowers, bushes and shrubs to naturally insulate the building while harvesting rain water.

While these design features will certainly help the building save energy, implementing a solid, reliable, yet quite affordable Building Energy Management System also seems to be quite a good idea, and this is specifically where HeatingSave could lend a helping hand.

Building Energy Management Systems are capable of delivering extensive monitoring and control options, compared to basic controls. They typically employ data from a variety of sources (boiler flow and return sensors, internal and external temperature sensors, occupancy sensors, humidity sensors, etc.), and enable the perfect optimization of a building’s boiler-based central heating system.

If you’d like to find out more about the savings enabled by the HeatingSave Building Energy Management System, just contact our dedicated product team, they’ll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.