What is Breeam?

BREAAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de facto measure used to describe a building's environmental performance.  Barnsley College and Miller Construction have adopted the medhodology in the Old Mill Lane Newbuild, the details of which can be found below.

a.    BREEAM rating and score: Very Good, 58.91%
b.    Basic Building Cost: £35m
c.    Services cost: £
d.   External Works: £
e.   Gross Floor Area: 17,342m2
f.    Total Area of the Site: 9886m2
g.   Area of each type of function space:
        Reception/Foyer: 230m2
        Teaching, Beauty, Hair Salons: 2037m2
        Offices/Counselling/Interview Rooms, Meeting Rooms, Staff Rooms: 2105m2
        LRC: 1151m2
        Kitchens/Servery/Cold Rooms/Refectory/Bar: 167m2
        Retail: 601m2
        Workshops/Design Studios: 1485m2
        Music Practice Rooms/Performing Arts Studios/Media Studios: 1301m2
        Computer Suites/Classrooms: 1513m2
        Changing Rooms: 180m2
        Laundry: 28m2
h.    Area of Circulation: 3376m2
i.    Area of Storage: 403m
j.    % Area of site to be used by the Community: Urban Park is open to the public: 4960m2
k.   % Area of building to be used by the Community:
l.    Predicted electricity consumption: annually: 91575 kWh/m2
m.  Predicted Fossil Fuel Consumption: dependant on who Barnsley College procure their fuel from.
n.   Predicted Renewable Energy Consumption: local renewable energy is dependant on current Rocket Science/renewables scenario, currently awaiting instruction from the College. Network Renewable energy to be confirmed by the College's energy supplier.
o.    Predicted water use: 3417 litres/person/year
p.    Predicted water use to be provided by rainwater or grey water: 0
q.    Description of the Project:
 
   "The College has recognised that the major constraint upon its future progress and development is its existing building stock which, although it reflects the high standard of care which characterises all of the College’s activities, no longer has the necessary flexibility in use or the ability to truly project the College’s image and sustain its activities into the future.  The redevelopment of the College’s Old Mill Lane campus presents an opportunity to create a state of the art learning environment which will enable the College to maintain and build upon its record of achievement – and its reputation – in the twenty first century. 
 
The College brief to the design team and the strategic aims of the project are summarised as follows: 
   •   Creating a distinctive 14-19 learning zone in the town of Barnsley.
   •   Raising the staying-on rates in Barnsley.
   •   Delivering a flagship, purpose designed College matching the excellence in provision.
   •   Improving integration of vocational skills teaching with real life business activity alongside the ‘academic curriculum’ facilitating greater choice.
   • Introducing high standard provision for 14 – 16 year olds with the potential for accelerated progression into the mainstream College at 15.
 
The Strategic Planning Assumptions which underpin the project are as follows: 
   • Growth in guided learning hours (GLH) over the planning period to 2010 from 2.76 million GLH to 3.07 million GLH (equating to 11.51% growth overall). This is across the whole of the College estate and means that the Minimum Number of Workplaces within the College will increase to 2136. 
   • Curriculum areas such as Engineering, Media, Music, Health and Social Care, Hair and Beauty have shown and will continue to show significant increases in the number of FTE’s attending these courses.
 
The form of the building has been derived to respond to the site constraints and the College’s requirement to keep ‘B’ block basement in operation whilst the new project is being constructed on the site of ‘A’ block, the Business Solutions Centre and Performing Arts provision on the western part of the Old Mill Lane site. This requirement means that the new build site is very tight and compact at just over one acre in area and offers construction challenges. The topography of the land has been fully explored to ensure that the building takes into account the level differences of the sloping site with the lower ground floor level relating to the landscaped area on the former site of the existing ‘B’ block (which will ultimately be demolished on completion of the new build project.)
 
The essential characteristics of the design in responding to the brief can be summarised by the following bullet points. 
   • The design seeks to emphasise the visual impact of the proposed entrances on the corner of Eastgate and Old Mill Lane, easily demarcating the College’s ‘front door’ and relating it to Barnsley Town Centre.
   • The design seeks to achieve a landmark building which provides a public face to Church Street, Old Mill Lane and Eastgate, thus making it easily identifiable within Barnsley and to ensuring that it attracts students to the College for the years to come.
   • The design allows for the introduction of external windows to each major teaching space providing natural daylight via elements such as the atrium.
   • The design minimises disruption as far as possible to the College’s academic delivery whilst the construction phase takes place -no temporary buildings are needed.
   • The design incorporates a Green landscaped area – an Urban Park – for amenity value and, also, to provide an appropriate, structured setting for the new building."


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r.   Description of the Building:
 

 The external appearance and scale of the application design has the following features and characteristics:
 
In basic form the building consists of 3 elements, the Personalised Learning Zone (PLZ) to the rear facing the Urban Park, the main teaching and vocational space in the building fronting Church Street and Old Mill Lane and a central Atrium which extends through to the new piazza on the corner of Church Street and Eastgate as well as to the Urban Park.
 
The relationship between the PLZ and teaching space elements has been described as ‘brother and sister’ in that there are links and visual features consistent to both. A varied and carefully arranged pallet of materials is proposed which are used to address issues related to mass and scale. These consist of; - Ceramic (terracotta) rainscreen claddings in 3 differing natural tones, acrylic render, natural stone effect masonry, polished ‘black’ masonry and aluminium cladding together with differing framed and frameless glazing types.
 
Views of the building are possible from both a distance and close up and in response to this the PLZ element is clothed in a vibrant coloured cladding system signifying the building as a ‘Beacon of Learning’. This will be visible from various vantage points and act as a landmark as one approaches the Town. At closer quarters finer detailing is utilised to provide interest and quality such as the copper coloured fins and use of traditional masonry detailing contrasting with the more contemporary ceramic rainscreen and high quality glazing systems. The intention is to provide a lively and vibrant façade that can be appreciated by users and passers by alike.
 
Height is restricted to 3rd floor level along Old Mill Lane and the elevations stepped back at 4th and 5th floors along the Church Street elevation. These features together with the use of traditional architectural devices such as strong and continuous horizontal elements and careful use of materials effectively control the mass and scale both physically and visually to the extent that they are appropriate to the context.
 
Fenestration to all elevations is carefully arranged within the overall composition and relates to the external context and the varied internal uses. Where necessary and particularly on the Old Mill Lane elevation the appearance is broken down into distinct elements which are of a more human scale. Here the corner restaurant and conferencing suits are purposefully expressed by the use of the polished masonry which contrasts with the use of a ‘traditional’ masonry plinth grounding the building in the vernacular style of the town and conservation area. The result is a cohesive design which is attractive vibrant and appropriate.
 
The hierarchy of the entrances has been clearly expressed. The main entrance at the corner of Eastgate/ Church Street is 5 storeys high, with views of the atrium to draw you in; the secondary entrance on Church Street is integrated with the related commercial aspects of the College such as the restaurant and conferencing suits. This is achieved by grouping and arranging the façade materials into a more human, intimate scale appropriate to its function. This approach is also a response to the sensitivities of the adjacent conservation area. There will be signage at the entrances and this could include an advertising feature or students work.
 
A strong axial view from Eastgate to the top entrance to the park which is celebrated with a public space in the form of a plaza. A direct route from Old Mill Lane into the park via a wide walkway encourages use by public as well as users and increases the permeability of the site. This route is enhanced and softened by development of the landscaping works."
 
s.    The key innovative and low impact design features of the building:
•  Orientation and passive solar design
•  Solar shading
•  Natural ventilation to the atrium
•  High performance glazing facades
•  Occupant and/or daylight controlled switching
•  Variable speed drives for fans and pumps
•  Heat recovery systems (air to air)
•  One touch water appliances
•  Urinal flush controls
•  Flow restrictors (water)

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t.    Steps taken during the construction process to reduce environmental impacts:
Miller Construction have worked extensively to reduce their environmental impact during the construction process, both at an immediate local level and on a wider spectrum. Due to the proximity of the existing Block B Miller have liaised closely with the College users to ensure disruption and nuisance of the construction works are kept to a minium and impact as little as possible on the operating College. The restricted nature of the site also means that by utilising just-in-time deliveries and tightly programmed deliveries we, by default, impact as little as possible on the surrounding road networks. Wherever possible we select the quietest plant for a particular operation, unless doing so would cause that operation to be extended, in which case we would take an overview whereby it may well be better to work faster and complete the noisy operation sooner. We ensure local residences and businesses are kept up to date with site progress by issuing a mailshot/news bulletin at regular intervals which highlights elements of potentially noisy work that will be carried out shortly.
On a wider scale, we have ensured that wherever possible materials with a low embodied energy, sourced using the Green Guide for Specification and locally wherever possible are used. We also record the means of transport our management and operatives have used to get to site, thereby allowing assessments to be made as to the carbon footprint of our operations, all as measured by the BREEAM assessment.

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