Photo Credit: HLM Architects

When the UK government adopted the target to be net zero by 2050 back in June 2019 it became the first major economy to make such a commitment. Around the same time a number of local authorities adopted more ambitious targets, with Wokingham Borough Council approving its 2030 net zero target in the summer of 2019.

The council’s first operationally net zero asset, Dinton Activity Centre, provides a case study in not just how councils can provide real leadership on the issue, but how embracing the challenge and innovation within the industry can create a better development process from design to construction.

A number of the council’s leaders on the project and their delivery partners spoke at a recent event co-hosted with conferencing firm Built Environment Networking about the scheme and their ambitious approach to reducing emissions across the building and its construction.

Diana Tovar serves as the council’s Climate Emergency Strategy Officer, and described how they are targeting emissions across construction, she stressed the holistic approach taken by the council, saying: “We have taken the conversation very seriously, we are reviewing all new development and looking at all our capital projects including those by developers.”

The council’s approach has led them to pledge carbon neutrality on all new council properties from this year and a retrofit of all their properties to such standards by 2028.

Dinton Activity Centre is the first of such projects to come forward and will serve as a case study for future development in the borough.

The centre will replace an old building at the heart of Dinton Pastures country park, a popular attraction in the local area, which averages 400,000 visitors per year according to the activity centre’s manager, Tanya Lee.

Currently, the park is highly seasonal, attracting visitors mainly in the warmer months.

The new centre hopes to transform it into a year-long destination and offer more energy efficient facilities.

Tim Searle, senior construction manager for the scheme, described how they are aiming to attract new visitors through the project and create a building with consideration of the site and nearby area.

The council brought in the services of HLM Architects, who created an innovative design based around forming a hierarchy of spaces within the design to be inclusive of the diversity of ages and both the dry and the wet activities the centre will cater to.

Alex Pullin, the new centre’s architect described how “We’ve designed this new centre with the community’s needs at the front and centre. Working closely with the team, the design sensitively sits within the natural landscape while creating a sense of place and having a positive impact on future users.”

The design embraces a raft of the latest construction and sustainability methods, including being heated room-by-room via air source heat pumps. Energy will be generated through photovoltaic panels on the roof and the car park and biodiversity features, such as bird and bat boxes, will also be incorporated.

Off-site construction specialist Reds10 was chosen for the construction of the building using their steel frame volumetric system. Chief Executive Officer, Paul Ruddick revealed how they maximised speed, productivity and carbon efficiency on the scheme through the use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). He said: “85% of the building was completed in our factory prior to transport to site. We can achieve higher U-values and air tightness through the controlled environment in our factory, than you could through other methods of construction.”

“Also, all trades are directly employed by Reds10, including mechanical and electrical to ensure we have complete control of the building process. This is true vertically integrated construction.”

Wokingham Borough Council also brought in sustainability consultants RCDC to the scheme. Founder and Director Vince Ruane spoke of the need to look at total energy usage, and the inadequacy of current energy prediction tools like BRUKL when aiming to achieve net energy balance. His advice led the project to assess total building energy usage utilising RCDC’s TM54 calculator (based around the CIBSE TM54 methodology) to fully and accurately understand the building’s energy usage. This process allowed the design team to fully understand the energy generation required to achieve an energy balance and should make the activity centre a truly operationally net zero carbon development.

Achieving an operationally net zero carbon development, not only means using the latest technological innovations, but also using and protecting the best of natural assets and a deeply considerate approach to new construction.

But what the cost of adopting green measures?

Julie Mathur, Associate Director at  Faithful + Gould (the council’s cost manager), revealed that just 11 percent of project cost was on green measures and this was heightened by the bespoke nature of the scheme. She further revealed that the savings on energy cost would actually pay back that 11 percent in under 15 years.

Wokingham Borough Council’s positive approach to the climate crisis and its implementation of its own climate emergency action plan shows real leadership, that can hopefully be continued and repeated elsewhere. Dinton Activity Centre is only one part of this overall strategy, but as a case study, it shows how collaboration between clients, design teams and contractors can lead to highly sustainable and innovative buildings.

Those involved in the project include:

Reds10 – www.reds10.com

RCDC – https://www.ruane-cdc.com/

HLM Architects – https://hlmarchitects.com/

Faithful+Gould – https://www.fgould.com/

Wokingham Borough Council – https://www.wokingham.gov.uk/