Headington Hill Teaching Building and Engineering Workshop
Client: Oxford Brookes University
The brief
As part of the transformation of the Headington Hill campus, Oxford Brookes University sought to create two new buildings for the relocation of the School of Engineering, Computing & Mathematics, collocating with the Schools of Arts & Architecture. Alongside improving outdoor spaces across the campus, the cutting-edge development included an innovative new teaching building and a specialist purpose-built workshop.
The highly sustainable development aimed to boost collaboration and bring together engineering and motorsport with creative art and design thinking. With cutting edge technology embedded throughout, innovative use of artificial intelligence and robotics has been incorporated to boost digital innovation.
CPW were brought on board to provide full MEP and acoustic design services, as well as acting as BREEAM consultant on the project. Located in both a conservation area and next to a Grade II* listed building, it was imperative that the new buildings sit sensitively in the historic and ecological context of their surroundings.
Innovative teaching building
Spanning three floors with some areas open to the public, the teaching building has a light-filled atrium at its centre and features a café, exhibition area, immersion lab, robotics labs, digital theatre, VR cave, exhibition space, architectural studio, office space, and an adaptable area. The flexibility of the teaching, learning and social spaces will allow students to work in ways that best suit their learning needs, while encouraging interaction between students, academics and local businesses and communities.
The use of emerging technologies has been key to the design of the teaching building, incorporating Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR) and Augmented Reality (AR). The Virtual Reality cave encapsulates the showcasing of digital innovations, allowing students from multiple disciplines to create virtual buildings and towns, use interactive CAD design and disassemble a Formula 1 car to test changes to its design.
Air source heat pumps provide the heating and cooling for the building, providing an efficient solution that helps contribute to the building’s EPC A rating of 18.
Specialist purpose-built engineering workshop
The state-of-the-art facilities in the workshop provide students, staff and researchers with industry-standard technologies, enhancing learning experiences and preparing students for a smooth transition to industry. Housing specialist engineering equipment and hands-on teaching spaces, the workshop features high-voltage testing, a battery abuse laboratory, advanced scanning technology, composites workshop, wind tunnel and an automotive lab with a range of Formula 1 racing cars, providing a base for the renowned Oxford Brookes Racing team.
Given the nature of the equipment housed here, our team provided specialist design for ventilation, cooling, fuel and lab gases distribution, and power monitoring for the combustion and EV test cells and battery abuse laboratories. The workshop achieved an EPC A rating of 14.
Acoustic performance
The project involved the relocation of the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (ECM), including light industrial manufacturing and tooling equipment, from the Wheatley Campus. The Wheately Campus facilities performed poorly from an acoustic perspective with intrusive noise transfer between workshop spaces. CPW Acoustics undertook comprehensive noise measurements of tooling and machinery within the existing Wheatley campus to understand their noise emission and facilitate the design of the new workshop areas, providing appropriate teaching and working conditions.
The new buildings contain a large number of unusual room types and uses not addressed by typical industry guidance. By undertaking noise measurements within existing facilities, it was possible to establish appropriate architectural acoustic criteria based upon the likely noise levels and noise sensitivities of different room types.
Enhanced acoustic separating constructions, including glazing, walls, floors and junction details were required for high noise or noise sensitive areas. The Digital Theatre formed a central part of a film, TV and arts area of the building. The client brief for the space included a wide range of uses, demanding varying acoustic conditions, such as live music, amplified sound, music recording, theatre and cinema uses. Extensive 3D acoustic modelling was undertaken to develop a flexible and adjustable acoustic environment which balances the demands of the different uses.
Top sustainability standards
Working to the high standards of the Oxford Local Plan, sustainability was at the heart of this design, achieving EPC A and BREEAM Excellent at design stage.
Our Sustainability team delivered the BREEAM consultant role for the purpose-built workshop, guiding the project team to achieve key sustainability goals achieving a score of 75.1%. The team are on track to achieve BREEAM Excellent at post construction review – representing a performance equivalent of the top 10% of UK new non-domestic buildings.
Having been on board since the early stages of the project, the team were able to capture the early-stage credits and embed BREEAM principles into the entire design. This included achieving maximum ecology credits, providing a ‘significant net gain’ in biodiversity, and incorporating a large solar PV array and electric vehicle (EV) charging, with 40% of energy usage being supplied by renewable sources. A Life Cycle Assessment was undertaken at Stage 2 and 4 to quantify the embodied impact of the building.
The CPW team advised a fabric-first approach, ensuring an enhanced thermal envelope and a breathing façade, to minimise energy usage in heating and cooling, including triple glazing throughout. Both the teaching building and workshop were able to achieve an air tightness of 3.16 m³(h.m²) @ 50Pa.
CPW have a strong relationship with Oxford Brookes University, helping the University on their journey to net zero carbon, having previously produced a decarbonisation study to support a Salix funding application as well as supporting the University to become the first UK-based university to complete the operational installation of a Geo-Exchange Heating System, using boreholes to generate green energy.
EPC A
BREEAM Excellent
Top 10% of UK new non-domestic building performance
Specialist MEP design for laboratories and battery testing
Detailed acoustic performance review and solutions
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