Northumbria's Green Build

We look at Northumbria's new environmentally conscious building and find out why green is the colour of money.

According to a survey by UK student organisation People and Planet, a growing number of universities are adopting green practices. Yet the sector is still moving slowly and, more than a decade after the student association's advice that all institutions should adopt and publish environmental policies and action plans, many still have not done so. Currently, fewer than half of universities have set environmental targets. People and Planet's new green league table of universities, which is published in The Times, should help prompt universities to give greater consideration to their green credentials. Given that most students rate green issues as important, it should be a good incentive to boost green reputations and attract students.

It's a message that is not lost on Northumbria University. Its new City Campus East building heads up a huge initiative. Part of a £136 million investment in the university's Newcastle City Centre site, it is set to open in September 2007 and will be home to 9,000 students studying at Newcastle Business School, the School of Design and the School of Law. The campus is the only major build in the UK that exceeds the specifications laid out in the Kyoto treaty. City Campus East will be 40% more energy efficient than most other buildings of its type in the UK when it opens.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Kel Fidler explains: "New legislation only came into effect last year for new buildings, demanding a 28% increase in energy efficiency. However, when we started planning our new campus in 2004, we were keen to ensure it was as environmentally friendly as possible. We incorporated all aspects of the new Part L Building Regulations [relating to conservation of fuel and power] into our plans and have gone one step further by exceeding the targets set by the world leaders in Kyoto."

The university has recycled 95% of materials from the Warner Bros' cinema that previously occupied the site, while exceeding all previous government targets by recycling 75% of the materials on the new-build site itself, using the rubble as a sub-base and recycling all glass and scrap metal. The buildings have also had the ground floor levels raised to allow arisings to be buried on site reducing off-site disposal by a massive 2,500 cubic metres.

The 'green' ethos has been incorporated into every stage of the development, with a wide range of environmentally friendly features included, from rainwater harvesting and rooftop solar collectors, to priority for green vehicles and cyclists. Andrew Short, Property Services Manager at Northumbria, explains that sustainability has been a concern from the very start of the project. "We drew up a brief with the consultants identifying key areas. These included waste, carbon impact, biodiversity and a wide remit in terms of what we wanted to achieve."
This might sound like a costly enterprise because state-of-the-art green equipment costs more on initial outlay than traditional fittings. However with a tight budget for the project, Andrew was careful to stick to it without compromising the green ambitions for the campus. To make matters more difficult, there was no additional grant to fund green projects in the UK. "There are no funds available for green builds unless you are using renewable technology," says Andrew.

Andrew also found that green equipment would often spare an expense elsewhere in the build offsetting its own cost. He cites the intelligent lighting system as a prime example of this: "The lighting is computer controlled by a series of sensors so it is only in use when it is needed. This saved costs with wiring and labour as we did not have to employ anyone to install switches. These lights also cut running costs in the long term." He continues: "On balance, it would cost about the same to build a traditional campus."

Green technology often affords savings on the running costs in the long term. This is one of the key reasons that the commercial sector is going green en masse, and it should be an incentive for universities given that the sector spends £200 million on energy each year. This was a consideration throughout the build, which looked at whole-life cycle costing.

The design is backed up by a number of green initiatives that encourage students to use green transport and be conscious of their energy consumption and its subsequent impact on the environment. Professor Fidler says: "We believe it is entirely fitting that as an institution developing and educating the potential leaders of the future, we should be leading the field in green technology and providing state-of-the-art teaching facilities which care for the environment." With ecologically sound facilities such as City Campus East, Northumbria may well attract more green-minded students but on an equally important note the new building is a bastion of modern sustainable technology that will make financial savings in the long term.