CASE STUDIES Return to list of case-studies Green Oasis - Oxfordshire environmental education centre achieves impressive energy and water savings. The Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre lies in the shadow of the cooling towers of Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire. Designed by Simmonds Mills Architects for the Berks Bucks Oxon Wildlife Trust, the aim was to build a centre that would inspire and educate generations of youngsters about their impact on the natural environment. An important element of this was designing the Centre to be carbon neutral in its space heating and hot water requirements. The building is estimated to have a reduced dependency on non-renewable CO2-producing fossil fuels of around 90% (compared to having designed it to current 2002 regulatory standards). A number of techniques combine to achieve this aim including high levels of insulation in the walls, roof and floors; utilisation of passive solar gain; use of renewable fuel such as solar panels and firewood from the Wildlife Trust's woodland nature reserves; and maximisation of daylight levels. The use of Green Building Store's Ecoplus System low-emissivity windows and doors (with ultra-low U-value of 1.5 W/m2K) also made a contribution to the Centre's high insulation values. The Ecoplus System was also specified because of the fact it was British-made and was able to provide high-performance windows in custom sizes. The use of carefully-sourced Scandinavian Redwood and natural-oil based OS finishes were also important factors. In addition, it was important for Simmonds Mills to deal with an environmentally-aware company which already provided an environmental specification, rather than start from scratch with a mainstream supplier. Simmonds Mills also made significant steps to maximise water-savings within the building. Products developed by water conservation experts Elemental Solutions (now distributed by Green Building Store) were installed in the Centre. Five waterless AIRFLUSH® Urinals were installed as well as five ES4 water-efficient WCs, which use rainwater to flush them. It is estimated that 70 litres of water is saved per day and 20,000 litres per year is saved through the installation of the AIRFLUSH® Urinals. The WCs, with rainwater flushing, are estimated to have led to an 86% reduction in mains water consumption, compared with conventional WC water use. The architects report great satisfaction with both water-efficient products, also testifying to the ease of maintenance of the ES4's wall hung pan, and will continue to specify them in the future. Client: Berks Bucks Oxon Wildlife Trust Architects: Simmonds Mills, The Green Wood Trust, Station Road, Coalbrookdale, Telford TF8 7DR Tel: 01952 433252 Email: simmondsmills@f2s.com Supplier: Green Building Store, Tel: 01484 461705, Email: info@greenbuildingstore.co.uk, Website: www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk