Low carbon footprint
LouvreSol SP provided and installed the extensive brise soleil array around the South Cheshire college, constructed in the form of a crescent around a mature copse of oak trees.
Designed by Jefferson Sheard Architects, the building was designed to minimise its carbon footprint and achieves a ‘very good’ BREEAM rating.
The large and expansive use of glass has been designed to create a sense of continuity between the natural environment outside, the copse, and the human environment inside. The solar shading helps to reduce solar gain and solar glare within the communal area of the atrium.
In conjunction with the brise soleil, the build requirement was for a low carbon footprint for the project. This in turn required the architects to maximise use of natural ventilation and daylight penetration, to build in night cooling, include rainwater collection and re-use, and to use solar thermal collectors, ground source heat pumps, and motion sensor lighting. All these strategies have helped to reach the BREEAM rating.
To enable secure daytime ventilation and nigh time cooling of the atrium, LouvreSol SP supplied and installed its new LouvreWall system which is located at the bottom of the glazed crescent facade at ground level. The wide insulated louvre blades are opened by the Building Management System (BMS) when solar gain in the atrium is identified. In the evening the louvre blades open for a predetermined time to help flush warm air out to be replaced with cool fresh air for the following days occupancy.
LouvreWall is believed to be the largest spanning, motorised and insulated ventilation louvre system available on the market.
