Cambridge Architecture CA84

Cambridge Architecture

Eyes on the prize

RIBA Awards

Showcasing award winners around the region including the Stirling Prize recipient

Industr

y analysis Building Safety Act, sustainable housing, Part O, and local materials

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4-5 News

Awards success in and from the region; King of Prussia Medal commendation; design award shortlisting

6 A letter from the Chair

The CAA Chair discusses the future of the CAA 8-9 Delivering net zero housing

Robin Dryer discusses how to improve the housing stock to hit the climate deadline 10-11 Where to source materials

Alexander Reeve examines why the location of the material is as important as the material itself 12 Cambridge’s stone history

Geologist Nigel Woodcock looks at locally sourced materials through history 14-15 Building tour

A CAA-organised visit to 36 Storey’s Way 17-21 RIBA Awards 2022

2022’s showcase including Cambridge’s latest Stirling Prize winner

23 A cautionary tale

Colin Jones relates a recent court case that should cause architects to sit up and take note

24-25 Defining the future

The CAA asks the CFCI’s Young Ambassadors their view on the future of the construction industry 26-27 How hot is too hot?

Nick Kendall of the LABC examines the mysteries of Approved Document O 29 The drive for building quality

A precis of the half-day CFCI conference on the implications of the Building Safety Act 30-31

Climate action update

The CAA’s Climate Action Group gives an update on latest events and activities 33 Appreciating your strengths

Karen Adams shares tips on how to keep focused on success even in challenging economic conditions 34-35 Work in progress Spotlight on chartered practices in the area

The CAA thanks the following sponsors

Cambridge Architecture Cambridge Architecture is a review produced by the Cambridge Association of Architects, the local branch ofthe Royal Institute of British Architects. The views in this magazine are those of individual contributors (named and unnamed), and not of the Association. ISSN 1361-3375

Any comments or for a copy of the magazine, contact editors@cambridgearchitects.org

EDITORS David Adams, Tom Foggin, Susie Lober

ADVERTISEMENT SALES Marie Luise CritchleyWaring (advertising@cambridgearchitects.org) Published by CPL

www.cpl.co.uk

Cover Photo:

© Richard Fraser Photography

Magdalene College Library by Níall McLaughlin Architects. Richard volunteers for the CAA and specialises in architectural photography. See more of his work at richardfraserphotography.co.uk

CA84 was made possible by generous donations from the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry and the RIBA East Local Initiative Fund

Another Stirling Prize win for Cambridge

The new library at Magdalene

across the UK. It joins a host of previous Cambridge winners: 2012’s Sainsbury Laboratory; 2008’s Accordia development; and 1998’s American Air Museum, Duxford.

Welcome

Welcome to CA84! As 2022 draws to a close, we reflect on yet another tumultuous 12 months, with more to come in 2023. e combination of the war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to cause huge disturbances in the construction market.

But all is not lost! Amid the wintry gloom, we enjoy the bright lights of the RIBA Awards, including the Stirling Prizewinning Magdalene College. We continue examining the Building Safety Act: we report on the recent CFCI Conference; Colin Jones looks at legal developments; and Nick Kendall delves into the mysteries of Part O. Karen Adams encourages us all to develop our inner strength; the CFCI Young Ambassadors discuss their experiences; we report on the recent CAA visit to 2019’s 36 Storey’s Way by Cottrell & Vermeulen; and Alex Reeve examines recent trends in construction materials, while Robin Dryer of CDC Studio gives us his thoughts on the housing crisis.

2023 is unlikely to be a smooth journey. But if the past three years have taught us anything, it is to learn the lesson when facing events of immense power: like the tide, one should not try to hold it back; instead channelling the energy and momentum into a positive outcome.

Proposed sustainable travel zone for Cambridge: have your say

Greater Cambridge Partnership has proposed a ‘sustainable travel zone’ for the city of Cambridge intended to reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and improve bus services, to be paid for via a flat daily charge.

Controversial enough to reach the eyes of the national news (Town vs gown and car vs bike: row erupts over Cambridge congestion

In memoriam: Di Haigh

plan, The Guardian, 19 Nov 2022), the public is encouraged to comment via the GCP’s public consultation, which can be found at: https://bit.ly/ cbgstzconsult

The consultation runs until 23 December 2022. More information can be found at: https://bit.ly/gcpsustainablezone

The CAA is sad to report the death of Di Haigh in July 2022.

Di, a former Director at Allies and Morrison, was a central part of the Cambridge architectural community, including as Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, Director of Design Review at CABE, and Chair of the Design and Conservation Panel for Cambridge City Council. Her influence will be much missed by the design community within Cambridge and farther afield.

Read Diane Haigh’s Obituary in The Guardian by Peter Carolin at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/sep/05/diane-haigh-obituary

The editors

College, Cambridge, by Níall McLaughlin Architects, has won the coveted Stirling Prize 2022. The exemplar building was up against stiff competition from

New library at Magdalene College by Níall McLaughlin Architects, Stirling Prize winner 2022

© Richard Fraser Photography

City architect shortlisted for Hackney Design Awards

A family house on a tight site in Hackney designed by a Cambridge architect has been shortlisted in the Hackney Design Awards. 208 Cassland Road is an infill building in a conservation area, which manages the complexity of relating to the adjacent modest Victorian terrace while nodding to the Italianate villas next to Victoria Park by its use of

reconstituted limestone surrounds, all wrapped by a highly insulated façade, with triple glazing and an MVHR system.

Borough Architects said: “We are immensely proud and honoured that our small but mighty family house was included in such a fantastic selection of buildings.”

Ashley Courtney highly commended in 2022 church architecture awards

The Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association (EASA) and the National Churches Trust (NCT) have awarded Ashley Courtney (Ashley Courtney RIBA AABC Ltd) highly commended status in the King of Prussia Gold Medal category of the UK Church Architecture Awards 2022 for his work to render the chancel at West Dereham.

The awards recognise “the scheme of innovative, high-quality church conservation or repair that overcomes the greatest aesthetic or technical challenge”.

CFCI and RIBA Awards deadlines looming

Architects and designers are reminded that the 2023 Greater Cambridge Design and Construction Awards and the 2023 RIBA Awards are both coming up in January 2023.

For the Greater Cambridge Design & Construction Awards, the deadline for entries is 9 January 2023, 5pm. For more info see https:// www.greatercambridgeplanning.org/design-

heritage-and-environment/greater-cambridgedesign-and-construction-awards/

For the RIBA Awards 2023, the deadline for entries is 12 January 2023, 5pm. For more info see https://www.architecture.com/awardsand-competitions-landing-page/awards/ribaawards-timetable

Events

CAA Christmas party

Date and time: Wednesday 14 December, 6.30pm-11pm

Location: Old Bicycle Shop, 104 Regent St, Cambridge CB2 1DP. Register at https://caachristmas2022.eventbrite.co.uk/ Join the CAA for an evening of canapes, drinks and socialising with fellow professionals for a bit of pre-Christmas cheer.

Chesterton Community College and other schools (TBC)

Early 2023. The CAA will be holding moreworkshops with local schools and colleges. If you would like to get in involved, either from a school perspective or to supportthe event, please contact outreach@cambridgearchitects.org

CFCI: The Future of Cambridge – an update to the Local Plan to 20 41

Date and time:23 January, 6pm-8.30pm, see CFCI website for ticket details.

Location:Gillespie Centre, Clare College, Cambridge

Following consultation last year on the first proposals, the CFCI is delighted to welcome Stephen Kelly, Joint Director of Planning and Economic Development, who will provide a summary of the story so far and an overview of next steps in the process of developing the new Local Plan. The plan will affect how we work, live, and play in Greater Cambridge over the next two decades and beyond, ensuring a consistent approach to planning and building across both areas up to 2041.

© UK Church Architecture Awards / EASA/NCT

©

Borough Architects

Borough Architects shortlisted for Hackney Design Awards 2022

We’re here for you!

With the year coming to an end, Cambridge Architecture asks CAA Chair Anastasia Orphanidou about her thoughts and hopes for the association

WORDS ANASTASIA ORPHANIDOU, CAA CHAIR

Iam honoured to be writing this update on the Cambridge Association of Architects’ activities and aspirations for the next months, on behalf of the CAA.

Trying to engage with and entice members to participate in all activities over the past year has been understandably hard. We have been through three challenging years and what feels like one crisis after another: between the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 all the way through to an unstable national government and a potential recession in 2023.

As is the case for many individuals and organisations, the CAA is trying to adapt and redefine its role as a forum to represent members and the challenges they might be facing.

When I first got involved with the CAA back in 2017, I enjoyed being part of a local community of architectural practitioners getting together to discuss local and industry matters through a shared love for architecture and the profession. The pandemic drastically impacted this, but it has also been an opportunity for change and improvement.

The hope is for the CAA to be an inclusive forum of architecture and industry discourse, while promoting architecture and the profession through its members and its activities. This is easier said than done, but a reasonable ambition, nevertheless.

Below are a few actions that could work towards this, because, first and foremost, we need YOU – we need your time and energy to maintain the great community of professionals in order to produce high-quality events and experiences.

Continue the monthly meeting format that is appealing to a wide range of professionals

The hybrid format appears to work well and provides good flexibility for those who want to meet in person or those who prefer to stay online. We try to include a feature presentation (CPD!), an update on CAA activities and events, as well as news from our Climate Action Group.

More building tours

Building tours are the most immediate way to celebrate local architecture and architects, and the last few tours to Magdalene Library, 36 Storey’s Way and Clare College were very popular. We hope to organise more frequent and accessible tours to buildings at all stages of construction.

Social events

The Annual Reception, the Christmas Party and the August Punting Social have proven to be popular events throughout the year.

Collaborating across the region and disciplines

Collaborating with other branches, regions and disciplines to celebrate good architecture, strengthening our relationship with the RIBA East and the RTPI, and looking for additional engagement opportunities.

Urban room

The urban room idea has gained many supporters,but will remain a longer-term ambitionuntil a viable financial model and a location is found.

Strengthening links with education bodies

Youth engagement is important and rewarding. We aim to create and strengthen our links with local schools and collaborate more closely with the Department of Architecture (first year live projects, joint annual seminar, mentoring opportunities and end of year show) and local schools and colleges.

“The hope is for the

and its

Delivering net zero housing

Following his recent online presentation for the Keystone Group, Robin Dryer of CDC Studio offers his thoughts on the future of low-carbon housing in the UK

WORDS ROBIN DRYER, CDC STUDIO

Net zero carbon Construction

“When the amount of carbon emissions associated with a building’s product and construction stages up to practical completion is zero or negative, through the use of offsets.”

Source: UKGBC’s Framework Definition 1.1

Operational

“When the amount of carbon emissions associated with the building’s operational energy on an annual basis is zero or negative. A net zero carbon building is highly energy efficient and powered from onsite and/or offsite renewable energy sources, with any remaining carbon balance offset.”

Source: UKGBC’s Framework Definition 1.2

Whole life carbon

“When the amount of carbon emissions associated with a building’s embodied and operational impacts over the life of the building, including its disposal, are zero or negative.”

Source: UKGBC’s Framework Definition 1.3

Housing will need a more technical, BIM-focused approach to achieve net zero

CDC Studio has been fortunate to design zero-carbon housing developments and non-housing projects. This experience gives the practice perspective on the challenges faced by the housing sector and architects designing homes for the future.

The target date for the UK being net zero is 2050 and housing developments will have to aim for net zero long before this date to achieve this goal. Only 27 years away, it is evident that there will have to be a cultural shift to get there.

A snapshot looking at housing developments on sale today, provides a context of the challenges. Right now, you can buy new houses with gas installed as the primary energy, with no electrification or PVs. Marketing material focuses on internal features, such as airy entrances and open-plan living but significantly no mention of carbon and energy. I wonder how long it will it be before these houses will wish or have to convert to electrification for air source heat pumps – and how easy will that be?

Lack of comparison

A quick online search identifies the top 10 house builders and it is possible to compare them on output and profit, but sadly, there is no equivalent list of top 10 house builders based on carbon.

Perhaps if this were an option, house buyers could choose lower-carbon developments? If you are buying an air source heat pump or electric car, there are numerous review sites. Why are there no evidence-based carbon comparison websites for new housing that inform the public of the performance of house builders?

There are exemplar projects to follow, such as the Climate Innovation District in Leeds, constructed from timber frames on site, these houses are marketed as zero-carbon design, with recycled glass wool insulation, MVHR, passive cooling, and powered by sunlight. This development responds to the multi-

Allen Pyke Associates

Landscape Architecture & Environmental Cambridge - London - Bath

www.allenpyke.co.uk design@allenpyke.co.uk 01223 358 055

faceted aspect of zero carbon.

The development demonstrates that not only is there a market for zero-carbon projects but that the industry can deliver on the carbon agenda.

According to the RIBA Embodied andWhole Life Carbon Assessment forArchitects “…a low-carbon building isonethat optimises the use of

resourcesboth to build it and to use it over its lifetime”.

Whole life carbon (WLC) thinking combines both, considering emissions and embodied together so as to optimise their relative and combined impacts and avoid the unintended consequences of assessing each in isolation. The Mayor of London (Greater London Authority) has WLC benchmark targets for project types, a statutory requirement in certain situations. This seems to be

New homes will need to integrate a combination of technologies, including air source heat pumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and photovoltaics

the direction of travel, and I can envisage more authorities setting benchmarks. LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide is also a good source of aspiration and sets notional targets for both embodied and operational carbon. (Embodied target less than 500 kgCO2/m2).

In our projects to date, to calculate the WLC, we have been using specialist software Oneclick LCA coupled with BIM software, Archicad. The process of data inputting feels complex and rigid and we are hopeful that this will improve. Material decisions are required earlier in a project than usually expected, and any changes during the project require rerunning the software.

The elephant in the room to achieve Net Zero 2050, is the impact existing homes have on the carbon agenda. In The Guardian article 'England’s housing strategy would blow entire carbon budget, says study', (23 Aug 2022) the issue was highlighted. “For England, if current trends continue, 92 per cent of emissions will come from existing housing, and 12 per cent from the emissions of building and running new houses, the study finds. There are about 25m dwellings in England, and the amount of emissions from existing homes is high because large parts of the housing stock are pre-war, and more challenging to insulate. For example, half of homes built between 1919 and 1930 have uninsulated solid walls which account for almost half of heat loss.”

So how can we deliver net zero housing?

As the country starts to tackle zero carbon, the industry needs a top-down and bottom-up approach. With the increase in energy bills, house buyers need to see genuine low energy and low carbon as key features.

Legislation will be required and the Future Homes Standard, expected to arrive in 2025, will be a good step in that direction. I feel that the industry needs to generate WLC for each project. This will be a big undertaking but will provide a database of knowledge, which would assist in generating future policies and targets. House builders could also help by changing the agenda, bringing zero carbon into their offering and improve their communication to homeowners.

Reference websites: https://www.leti.uk/ https://www.futurehomes.org.uk/ https://kb.goodhomes.org.uk/ Interior

“Why are there no evidence-based carbon comparison websites for new housing that inform the public of the performance of house builders?”

So how is net zero actually defined?

Straight to the source

Sourcing locally sounds great; it could boost prosperity in the area you live, and transport impacts are reduced. These could be the reasons why for one recent new-build project in Cambridge the sustainability consultant set a target of procuring 10 per cent by value of building materials from within 50km of the site. But are the issues actually a little more complicated?

A project requiring lots of high carbon in-situ concrete already has a powerful financial incentive to source as locally as possible to minimise transport cost of a high-mass material, and to minimise ready-mix transit time. Aconcrete building could, therefore, score highly for local sourcing; in contrast to a low carbon, cross-laminated timber structure sourced from distant Finland but transported in a relatively low carbonmanner by ship from Helsinki to Felixstowe.

The local economic benefit argument is equally nuanced. The Cambridge area is already ‘an Eastern powerhouse’ for the UK economy, might it be better to source materials from less affluent parts of the UK?

Home or away?

An issue with UK sourcing can be finding the ideal components necessary to deliver on our environmental targets. Harsher winters, and historically tougher regulation, mean that northern continental Europe has a strong manufacturing base for high-quality triple glazing, for instance. It is therefore heartening to see that a local Essex-based manufacturer – Crittall – is responding to the challenge and has recently begun offering triple-glazed units with thermal breaks in the framing.

Other factors that might influence sourcing are the availability of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Cradle-to-Cradle Certification, and other reassurances regarding environmental care and quality. Again, this might favour overseas suppliers; for instance, France has required construction products that make environmental claims to have EPDs for some time and the UK is yet to catch up.

A question of mass

Perhaps the thing to really focus on is mass? Our forebears really had to worry about this when the only energy

WORDS ALEXANDER REEVE

Low carbon crosslaminated timber manufactured by KLH in Austria and used in the structure of the new student accommodation at Lucy Cavendish College

Leading by example, the Entopia Building for the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership promotes circular economy principles

© ISG

sources available to move material were wind, gravity and muscle power. It is still astonishing to think of the effort involved in bringing the thousands of tonnes of stone needed to build Ely Cathedral by cart and barge from quarries near Stamford. Availability of cheap fossil fuels made local sourcing almost irrelevant but, now we know the real cost of hauling goods around using climate-harming diesel power, it is time to reassess.

Looking at EPDs for generic aerated concrete blocks and generic clay bricks, the transport by diesel lorry of a tonne of masonry gives rise to greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to around 7.5kg of CO2 per 100km transported (allowing for an empty return trip). 100km is about the difference between sourcing a brick from Leicestershire or one from Shropshire. Given the material extraction and manufacture of a tonne of bricks or blocks is likely to have caused around 240kg of CO2 emissions (more than 30 times greater) perhaps distance is not the most pressing issue.

Contrast this with an EPD for crosslaminated timber. Fossil fuel and land

Cambridge's Entopia Building used 3.79 tonnes of steel recovered from a film studio, adapted by Cleveland Steel & Tubes in compliance with the Steel Construction Institute Steel Reuse Protocol.

Re-use saved two tonnes of CO2 compared with recycled electric arc furnace steel

transformation effects related to timber cropping, cutting and laminating give rise to a more modest 117kg of CO2 emissions per tonne. However, once you factor in the carbon locked up during growth of the timber, emissions become negative at -1,504kg CO2 per tonne. I find this an intriguing statistic, the fact that if the carbon locked up in timber is released through oxidisation, the weight of the resulting CO2 is around 50 per cent greater than the timber that has been destroyed. It helps bring home the vital role biomass must play in combating climate change.

Mining for resources

The UK may not currently be blessed with the timber resources of central Europe and Scandinavia, however we do have an under-utilised resource in the form of a rich legacy of existing buildings. The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s brief for its new HQ (the Entopia Building) included a requirement to seek ways to make better use of this resource as a way of promoting a more circular economy. Retrofitting an existing

building to 21st century standards was the key move, however the contractor (ISG) was able to effectively mine the local built environment by identifying joinery, lighting and steelwork that could be adapted for the project. The client also played its part by saving and reconditioning existing furniture as part of the fit-out.

Quality can be a concern when re-using material. However, this is being addressed as the new ‘circular’ industrial sector begins to mature. Re-manufactured furniture can be supplied with warranties; the luminaires in the Entopia Building were taken from a speculative fit-out in London and adapted, tested, and re-warrantied by Specials Lighting of Essex; and the steel was adapted and certified by re-use specialists Cleveland Steel & Tubes.

As a final thought, perhaps, as we get more rigorous about questioning the environmental impact of materials, we should become wary of the pristine virgin material that tends to signify quality today, and instead learn to better appreciate quality in the form of the thought and effort that goes into adapting existing material to a new use.

Cross-laminated timberdetail

History lessons

Cambridge buildings display one of the UK’s best records of building stone use through time. However, this record has not been fully researched and therefore remains an underused resource for educators, historians and architects.

Helped by Euan Furness, I recently did a survey1 of all Cambridge buildings that contain significant exterior stone, excluding only private housing. We identified the types of stone in each building and tried to assign a date and a rough volume to each project involving stone. Significant replacement and repair projects were included, but roofing materials, monumental stone and brick were not. Our compiled database includes nearly 1,000 records of stone projects to interrogate and analyse.

We identified 23 main stone types with another 12 types used in low volumes only. The overwhelming majority (94 per cent) of Cambridge stone is limestone. Two-thirds of that limestone comes from the ‘Lincolnshire Limestone Formation’ that extends southwards from Lincoln through Rutland to Corby in Northamptonshire. Nine main quarry areas have supplied Lincolnshire Limestone, but most has come from Ketton (35 per cent). Ancaster (18 per cent), Clipsham (10 per cent) and Weldon (9 per cent).

The pattern of use through time can be displayed on bar charts for each stone type showing the volume used each decade. The charts – ordered by first use date of each stone – reflect historical controls on stone use.

For example:

● Before the 15th century, stone came either from local Cretaceous Clunch quarries, locally harvested fieldstone, or the Barnack and adjacent quarries near Stamford that were controlled by the Fenland abbeys.

● After 1349, the supply of fieldstone declined sharply because of the decreased area of arable farming after the Black Death.

● After 1460, Barnack stone supply declined when the quarry was worked out, but a recycled source arose by demolishing monasteries after their dissolution in 1536-41.

● The excellent stone from Weldon and Clipsham only arrived in Cambridge around 1470, after the Barnack quarries ran out.

● In 1847, the extension of the railway networkto Cambridge greatly increased the variety of distant UK stone that was used inCambridge.

What relevance is this study to practising architects? First, knowing the full variety of stone used historically in Cambridge should help in identifying stone in restoration projects and in sourcing alternatives. Second, the study gives a historical context to stone used for both restoration and new-build projects. But finally and fundamentally, the study shows that – for at least eight centuries – Cambridge masons and architects successfully used stone sourced from within 100km of the city. Maybe the increasing recognition that locally sourced stone has a low embodied carbon footprint2 will promote a new phase of stone use in the city.

References:

1 Woodcock, N.H. and Furness, E.N. 2021. Quantifying the history of building stone use in a heritage city; Cambridge, UK, 1040-2020. Geoheritage, 13, 12, bit.ly/CA84-stone1 or bit.ly/CA84-stone2

2 Webb, S. 2020. Why the time is ripe for a return to stone as a structural material. RIBA Journal, 29 May 2020. bit.ly/CA84-stone3

WORDS NIGEL WOODCOCK, EMERITUS READER IN THE EARTH SCIENCES DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Geologist Nigel Woodcock outlines the first quantitative study of historical building stone use in Cambridge and explains its relevance in today’s world

St Peter’s Church – walls of local fieldstone rubble with quoins and string courses of Barnack stone

Clare College Old Court, south range, 1640-42, John Westley. Built of Ketton Limestone, the most commonly used stone in Cambridge

The Storey's so far…

Here is what local architect Ian Harvey thought of the building

Only 62 years old, Churchill College has a pioneering progressive tradition. It was the first college focused on the then Cinderella scientific and technological subjects. It took the lead in the university’s expansion westward. Churchill was the first college to embrace modernist design with Sheppard Robson’s 1960s competition-winning brutalist central building, three sets of surrounding residential courts and a chapel. Pevsner called it the “best of the new”, but it was also nicknamed the Madingley Rd Tech by some traditionalists.

Since 1970, the college development strategy has been continuity and respect for the original fabric and now, in the 21st century, prioritises inclusion and sustainability. All of this while wanting to keep the majority of graduates’ accommodation on site.

Located on what was an infill plot, in the northwest corner of the campus, and at the head of Storey's Way, where five adjacent listed Arts and Crafts houses by Baillie Scott can be found, Cottrell & Vermeulen’s three new playful houses, accommodating 40 postgraduate students, are the latest realisation of these policies.

Its design response returns to the themes of the architect’s 2001/3 adjacent three pepperpot contemporary pavilion extensions to the Arts and Crafts Whittingehame Lodge. Behind these, and opposite the refurbished Wolfson family flats, the new scheme and its landscaping complete a residential composition, creating a village atmosphere with a unified sense of place and a defined route linking Storey's Way to the main campus.

The external materiality of the three new linked buildings employs a natural palette, precast board-marked concrete cladding panels to the ground levels, the open red cedar to the link blocks, brown timber windows and the use of copper on the roofs make reference back to the Sheppard Robson building. While at the same time, the Arts and Crafts style of Storey's Way is echoed by the use of handmade tile cladding with the wavy façades referencing eyebrow dormers – all seen as a bit of fun by the architects. The ©

CAA members visited the latest addition to Churchill College

On 28 September 2022, the Cambridge Association of Architects ran a tour of the RIBA East Building of the Year Award winner – 36 Storey's Way by Cottrell & Vermeulen, three characterful new buildings that form the latest addition to Churchill College’s graduate housing quarter. The tour was led by Dr Minna Sunikka-Blank, Fellow at Churchill College and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge; and Simon Tucker, director at Cottrell & Vermeulen Architecture.

WORDS IAN HARVEY, HARVEY NORMAN ARCHITECTS, AND SIMON TUCKER, COTTRELL & VERMEULEN ARCHITECTURE

Ze’ev

Feigis

tiling subcontractor is said to have created a Norfolk voodoo doll of the architect when a section of tiling was condemned.

Internally, 30 large bedrooms with off-site modular ensuites are arranged in clusters of five per floor, each with a communal dining kitchen, giving a domestic, inclusive social feel. The bedroom design again references the Sheppard Robson residential courts with maple flooring, birch plywood joinery and the terrazzo bay window seat. Bespoke furniture was also commissioned for the bedrooms and kitchens. There are also five self-contained flats, and support rooms.

Sustainability aspiration has been met by a surprisingly traditional construction with considerable use of timber enhanced by the use of renewables such as heat pumps and photovoltaics achieving higher than standard energy and whole-life carbonperformance.

Cost was a defining factor and this constraint was partly managed by the architect and contractor designing the building together on a traditional contract.

The end result is an inventive, and indeed progressive, building worthy of its predecessors, providing a homely environment and enhancing the college experience of its occupants.

Architect Simon Tucker's view

Fifteen years after completing the ‘pepperpot’ scheme for Churchill College, CVA was shortlisted for a competition to build postgraduate accommodation on the adjacent site. Despite this interval, the proposals very much inherited the ideas and approach of the 2002 housing.

The original scheme was conceived as a suburban orchard with the housing distributed in three pavilions between the trees.

The proposals drew on their context, an overlap site between the Arts and Crafts conservation area of Storey's Way and the gentle brutalist, institutional landscape of Churchill College. The architectural character and materiality reflected both contexts, combining the organic tiled forms of the neighbouring roofscapes with the concrete panels recalling the post-war architecture of the College buildings.

The new design proposed an extension and consolidation of the postgraduate campus started with the 2002 project.

Landscape and architecture were again considered together with the accommodation similarly divided into three houses within a garden setting that would be enjoyed by both new and existing housing. The smaller site however, required a more courtyard-like

scheme with the connecting staircases being treated as an extension of the landscape elements.

During the competition phase, we developed the architectural language with greater influence from the adjacent Sheppard flats. The college was keen, however, to make a more direct reference to the original ‘pepperpot’ buildings. The development of the materials therefore became more subtle, introducing decorative elements to the tiling and using boardmarked concrete and copper, all of which pushed the references to the neighbouring contexts more explicit and tangible.

As with the first scheme, we were keen to break down the accommodation into smaller communities. The organisation of the new houses created clusters of five rooms around a shared communal kitchen and common area. These areas were developed in detail using physical models with the college and postgraduate students.

It is a rare privilege to be able to revisit your work in this way. We were able to learn from, and adapt designs against, a benchmark control sample. The design process became more about refinement than reinvention.

Smith and Wallwork Ltd 50 St Andrews Street, Cambridge, CB2 3AH www.smithandwallwork.com 01223 750 249 contact@smithandwallwork.com

©

© Ze’ev Feigis

Stars from the East

Another bumper year in the RIBA East region saw 22 projects shortlisted for awards, with 17 eventually picking up an award. For the third time in a row, one Cambridge building made it through the regional and national awards and onto the shortlist for the Stirling Prize.

Cambridge Architecture reviews winners across the region…

Out of an original 48 entries in the East of England, 22 buildings were shortlisted for the RIBA East 2022 Awards, ranging from a small copper-clad home extension in Cambridge to a new youth and participation space at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich.

Shortlisted projects for the RIBA East 2022 awards were assessed by a regional jury with the winning projects announced after the last issue of Cambridge Architecture went to print.

Following online announcements, special awards including Small Project of the Year, the Conservation Award, and Building of the Year were announced at a national event in London. We hope that next year the East Region awards will be rightfully celebrated back in the region, where the projects, clients, contractors, and design teams are based.

Each year, regional award winners are considered for the highly coveted RIBA National Awards in recognition of their architectural excellence. Of the 29 RIBA National Awards in 2022, just two were from the East Region: Stone Cottage by Haysom Ward Miller Architects, and The New Library for Magdalene College by Níall McLaughlin Architects. As announced in October, The New Library went on to even greater success, winning the RIBA Stirling Prize 2022.

This is the third time in a row a Cambridge building has featured on the Stirling Prize shortlist, and the fourth time the award has been given to a building in the Greater Cambridge area since its establishment 16 years ago, undoubtedly testament to the high standards of design in and around the city.

Read on to find out more...

Aldeburgh House by David Walker Architects ©Tim Soar

Sutton Hoo by Nissen Richards Studio ©Gareth Gardner

Ely Museum by HAT Projects ©Philip Vile

Criss Cross House by Ashton Prorter Architects ©Andy Stagg

Wintringham Primary Academy by dRMM Architects ©Hufton Crow 6. The Garden Studio by Alder Brisco ©Nick Dearden

Copper House by Butcher Bayley Architects ©Matthew Smith

Friars by Mole Architects

Butler

Mere House by Mole Architects ©Matt Smith

Stone Cottage by Haysom Ward Miller Architects ©Richard Fraser 11. 36 Storey's Way, Churchill College by Cottrell & Vermeulen Architecture ©Anthony Coleman

NW2 Participation Building and Theatre Square by WGP Architects ©Peter Cook 13. Civil Engineering Building by Grimshaw with RHP ©Paul Raftery

Brentwood Preparatory School by Cottrell & Vermeulen Architecture ©Anthony Coleman

Norfolk Barn by 3144 Architects Taylor Made Space ©Nick Dearden

Central Surgery by Hawkins Brown ©Jack Hobhouse

Winning a RIBA East Regional Award, RIBA National Award, and the RIBA Stirling Prize 2022, The New Library for Magdalene College is celebrated for exquisite detailing and robust materials, built to last an estimated 400 years.

A brief to create a college library with a lifespan of 400 years – to replace a library gifted to Magdalene by Samuel Pepys 300 years previously – is no small task. Níall McLaughlin Architects certainly rose to the challenge with this deft and inspiring temple to learning.

Set within the college grounds in Cambridge’s city centre, the new library replaces the cramped study spaces of the adjacent 17th century Grade I listed Pepys Library, and extends the quadrangular arrangement of buildings and courts that have gradually developed from the monastic college site.

Honouring the rich surrounding history, Níall McLaughlin Architects combine load-bearing brick, gabled pitched roofs, windows with tracery and brick chimneys that animate the skyline with contemporary sustainable design elements to create a building that will stand the test of time.

It contrasts openness with intimacy; and deftly achieves the architects’ vision for a structure that gradually rises up towards the light.

The library combines load-bearing brickwork with exquisitely detailed horizontal engineered timber structure toestablish a lofty, surprisingly vertical space with a complex three-dimensional tartan grid.

The grid structure delineates an attractive array of spaces: wide zones for reading rooms and group study, and narrow zones for staircases and bookcases.

The layout also creates a range of study spaces for independent study –with desks set into bay windows, hidden

in private niches and within shared zones– enabling students to be tucked away or among peers depending on theirinclination.

The library draws on familiar predilections from previous McLaughlin projects – the references to chandling of oak-panelled window assemblies for example, via the housing for Somerville College, Oxford, while also creating something wholly particular within the setting of the wider college. As with the best of the city’s many libraries, a great diversity of spaces to read and work is established, and reflecting its planned longevity, the building feels nicely slack –bookshelves are barely half filled and an extraordinary sense of space pervades, like inhabiting a hugely luxurious treehouse.

The design of this library has been strongly influenced by the requirements to passively light (characterised by the roof lanterns), and naturally ventilate the spaces (characterised by the stack effect ventilation chimneys and openings in the roof). Overall, the project presents exceptional engagement with environmental design principles. The predicted energy performance as a result exceeds the RIBA 2030 benchmark to be one of the best performing buildings of this year’s submissions. The project is also one of the top submissions in terms of whole life carbon considerations, and has addressed the RIBA 2025 benchmark. The structure is dominated by loadbearing brickwork, with horizontalsupport predominantly in engineered timber and to lesser extent as precast lintels and support beams. These material choices have successfully reconciled the existing constraints of the historic college context to deliver a building that will present a long and sustainable service life.

The New Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge

Architect:

Structural

Study areas of different scales include a solitary desk overlooking the triple-height space

Carefully crafted materials and daylight create naturally contemplative spaces for learning

Light plays across every surface including the fine grain of the timber slat roof

Building control: MLM

Contractor: Cocksedge

Internal joinery: Wedd Joinery

Awards:

Níall McLaughlin Architects

engineer: Smith and Wallwork Project management: Savills Cost consultant: Gleeds

Acoustic engineer: Max Fordham

Environmental / M&E engineer: Max Fordham

RIBA East Regional Award, RIBA National Award, RIBA Stirling Prize 2022

All images © Nick Kane

Garden views link the building to nature and the wider college

“The light-filled, warm-wood interior lifts spirit and fosters connections. Students have been gifted a calm, sequence of connected spaces where they, and future generations, will be able to contemplate and congregate, enjoying it both together and apart. This is the epitome of how to build for the long term”

RIBA Awards and Stirling

Copper House

Architect: Butcher Bayley Architects

Structural engineers: Cambridge Architectural Research Building control: 3C Shared Services Contractor: Mark Downs Building Services Award: RIBA East Regional Award

This single-storey extension to a Victorian terrace demonstrates the value a good architect can bring to the simplest project. They ensured the whole house was considered and integrated into a bravura intervention that opens up spaces of the original dwelling into a sequence that supports contemporary family life, with its

more complex interactions between work, family, chores and relaxation.

With limited means, the architects have picked the right elements on which to focus, working with the client to select good materials such as the patinated copper cladding and terracotta tiles from the client’s native Italy. The new room opens the house to the garden, bringing the two together in a convincing way.

Copper House implements a fabric-first approach to uplift insulation levels, including the renovated parts. The extension mostly utilised a highly insulated timber frame, while limited use of copper was justified against the offset of using reclaimed bricks.

Stone Cottage

Architect: Haysom Ward Miller Architects

Structural engineers: Cambridge Architectural Research Contractor: H. G. Frost Building Contractors Award: RIBA East Regional Award, RIBA National Award, RIBA House of the Year shortlist 2022

The crumbly flint-walled former labourer’s cottage has been retained and new elements sewn onto the original four rooms, opening the house to views of the landscape. A family room runs across the back of the house a half level up from the original cottage’s ground floor, enabling

it to look over the neighbouring field. This turns a relatively modest sequence of rooms into a playful and surprising journey through the life of the family.

The project addresses the RIBA 2025 benchmark both with predicted and actual energy use, while the substantial contribution from onsite photovoltaics bettered this performance.

It is commendable for the reclamation and reuse of materials wherever possible. Even internal finishes have low embodied energy, such as bamboo panels and vegetable oil-based plywood. The project demonstrates a meaningful agenda to deliver low carbon habitation.

Friars

Architect: Mole Architects

Structural engineers: Conisbee Contractor: F A Valiant & Son

Award: RIBA East Regional Award

Something of a rescue project, in addition to sensitively revealing the delights of a characterful Grade II 16th century house, Mole Architects has added a contemporary addition as an effective foil.

The beautifully restored house is now secure in its commanding position over the River Ouse floodplain, while the new

extension – similar in volume, but subsidiary and slightly rotated in plan – sits back with well-judged separation. The addition provides a set of spaces – kitchen, garden room and master bedroom – that are complementary but quite different in character from the spaces of the original house.

Designed to Passivhaus standards, the dwelling’s enhanced building fabric ensures a measured energy performance that addresses the RIBA 2025 benchmark. The inclusion of wood fibre insulation is commendable given the restrictions posed by the listing.

© Richard Fraser

© David Butler

© Matthew Smith

“Schemes across the region demonstrate the determination and design skill of all the practices involved, on projects large and small and across all sectors. They also show the enormous value that architects bring to these projects and how their expertise can be used to create better spaces for people to live, work and experience”

Ely Museum

Architect: HAT Projects

Structural engineers: Momentum Engineering

Environmental / M&E engineers: Max Fordham

Contractor: R G Carter

Project management: Focus Consultants

Cost consultant: Gleeds

Access consultant: People Friendly Design Exhibition designers: Simon Leach Design

Signage and brand design: Igentics

Awards: RIBA East Regional Award, Conservation Award

HAT Projects has taken on a badly degraded historic building and lovingly restored and extended it to give new life and purpose to Ely Museum, creating a great resource for the city. The project starts with modest means – the

Civil Engineering Building

Architects: Grimshaw with RHP (R H Partnership Architects) Services engineering & sustainability consultant: Max Fordham

Civil & structural engineering: Smith and Wallwork

Façade engineering: Montressor Partners Landscape architects: Turkington Martin Fire engineering: Hoare Lea

Civil, structural and fire engineering: Ramboll UK Services engineering: K J Tait Engineers Contractor: SDC Builders Award: RIBA East Regional Award

At the heart of this new facility is the main testing hall, featuring an extraordinary metre-thick concrete testing slab. Wrapped around this and ancillary laboratories is a series of research and collaboration spaces, culminating in a shared canteen and roof garden on the top floor.

Bishop of Ely’s former gaol, unsympathetically altered in the 1990s. Asmall amount of National Lottery funding allowed stripping out to reveal what was left of the original fabric. A new entrance, accessed from a sunny planted courtyard, connects the museum to Market Street, while a new addition provides a generous set of spaces including a teaching and community room, which can be accessed independently from the museum for wider use.

The architects have carefully chosen their materials, from re-used boarding saved from the original gaol cells to hand-made gault clay tiles. They are commended for a strong working relationship with the client team and the museum curator. The project exemplifies the rejuvenation of a civic building in a way that provides great community value.

Mere House

Architect: Mole Architects

Structural engineers: HA Consulting Environmental and timber frame: Beattie Passive Contractor: Burmor Awards: RIBA East Regional Award, Small Project of the Year

This project was driven by a client with a clear sense of destination – the creation of a place to live after retiring with as little environmental impact as possible: a desire for compact self-sufficiency. What emerged is an exemplar of the Passivhaus approach: an upside-down arrangement with a first-floor kitchen, living room and bedroom looking out for miles over

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The economic and legible structure maintains a regularrepeated framing arrangement with expressed diagonals forming storey-deep trusses rather than carbon-intensivetransfer structures where longer spans are required.

The measured energy performance betters predictions, notable in relation to the high unregulated loads expected with this sort of specialised facility.

The project is most notable for the sustainable engineering and innovation presented. The engineers addressed the onerous superstructure and substructure carbon demands of the brief with extensive research to ensure the delivery of circular design principles, developing a commendable Energy Cost Metric to evaluate whole-life benefits of this approach. Overall, it represents an exemplar project in sustainable engineering that presents a benchmark for future projects to follow.

the surrounding fens, while the ground floor offers more introverted spaces, including a sparebedroom, utility spaces and study.

Externally, well-detailed larchboard cladding combined with a butterfly roof and celebratory rainwater pipe offer a light-hearted reference to the agricultural tradition of farm buildings on the edge of fen settlements.

Although the design has not formally attained Passivhaus certification, actual energy use addresses the RIBA 2025 benchmark, while onsite photovoltaics deliver near off-grid operation. The construction demonstrates considerable attention to embodied carbon, utilising timber structurally, in cladding and finishing treatments. Even decorative floor and paint finishes include bio-based alternatives.

© Philip Vile

© Matt Smith

© Paul Raftery

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A cautionary tale

In the landmark case of Martlet Homes Limited v Mulalley & Co Limited (2022), the High Court awarded a housing association substantial damages against a contractor for the use, 14 years previously, of a particular type of cladding system. Colin Jones, Partner at HCRHewitsons, tells a cautionary tale

In July 2022, the England and Wales High Court (Technology & Construction Court) decided the case of Martlet Homes Ltd v Mulalley & Co Ltd The case related to the 2005-2008 upgrade works to five blocks of flats in Gosport owned by the housing association, Martlet Homes. The works included the design and installation of a cladding system.

After the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the works were inspected. It was found that the contractor had used a cladding product that included combustible expanded polystyrene insulation. Other defects included wrongly installed fire barriers.

Martlet took the decision to replace the entire cladding system with a non-combustible alternative. In the interim, a waking watch patrol was implemented to monitor safety risks to the residents.

The contractor accepted that there were some defects in the works. However, it denied the defects justified the decision to replace the cladding, which it said was a result of post-Grenfell Tower fire safety standards relating to cladding safety risks, and not due to its work.

The contractor argued only limited repair works had been required and that any award of damages should reflect that lesser responsibility.

However, the court decided in favour of the housing association, awarding damages for the replacement works and the waking watch costs. It determined that the contractor had been in breach of contract including because the combustible cladding system used was not compliant with the Building Regulations as they applied at the time of the installation.

The court said that while prior to the Grenfell Tower fire there had been no widespread knowledge around the cladding-related fire safety risks, the contractor should still have applied its mind to the risks of a non-compliant cladding system.

Cladding work had been undertaken in an era of what was said to be endemic complacency in the construction industry regarding fire safety.

While fact-specific, the Martlet Home decisionemphasises the court’s expectations

when it comes to cases relating to buildings and the safety of occupants. The court’s decision chimes with the drive for better building quality and safety as required under the new Building Safety Act 2022.

The act has extended the limitation period to 15 years for claims relating to future new or refurbishment work, or design services, where a dwelling is not fit for habitation, and provides a 30-year retrospective right of claim.

The act has also introduced the right to claim where dangerous construction products have been used, with a liability period of 15 years for such cases.

Subject to the introduction of the necessary secondary legislation to make it effective, the act also provides for a 15-year right to claim compensation where physical damage (for example, injury or damage to property) results from a breach of the Building Regulations. This is intended to apply to all buildings, whether residential or not.

The Building Safety Act reforms mean that there are now greater prospects for actions such as the Martlet Homes case. Architects and others involved in construction need to be prepared for the added risk presented by these extended liability periods.

WORDS COLIN JONES, PARTNER, CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING TEAM, HCR HEWITSONS LLP

“The court’s decision chimes with the drive for better building quality and safety as required under the new Building Safety Act 2022”

Defining the future

With the construction industry evolving to meet the demands of sustainability and building safety standards, Cambridge Architecture asks architect members of the CFCI Young Ambassadors their views on the future of the construction industry

There is a focus on current challenges, including the climate and biodiversity crises, building safety and increasing costs. What do you think the industry of the future will look like; will we have solved these issues in 30 years’ time?

By 2052, we need to be well on the waytoa systemic and cultural shift towards a world in which we can meet theneeds of all people within the meansofthe living planet.

In this context, we envisage a construction industry that has moved away from ‘fast building’ and has become more localised and focused on repurposing what we have already. When we do make new buildings, they will be built to last, with robust shells that can be adapted over time. A greater proportion of our work will be community led or publicly funded, driven by need and social value.

This industry will have a very different approach to development, one more about gradual adaptation than big changes, which in turn will need engineers, architects and builders to use their skills in different ways. A circular economy will be developing, with reclamation companies forming a growing part of the industry. We will be developing processes for sorting, rating and re-using materials, and design solutions that make this easier.

We hope the lessons learned from Grenfell, and the new processes introduced by the Building Safety Act, will be firmly embedded and taken for granted by this time. The concept of individual responsibility has already successfully taken root through the CDM regulations; the golden thread and the handover processes required should prevent bad practice and help reduce errors. However,

Designing for the circular economy was core to the brief for the new Civil Engineering Building by Grimshaw with RHP

in the case of fire safety this will only be successful if consultants and contractors are supported by well-informed fire engineers and building control officers, anda bigger pool of test data on which todraw.

The projects we make now can point towards this future, with clients leading the way by setting ambitious targets, and consultants and contractors doing all we can to enable these ambitions to be met. We also need top-down policies requiring reductions in energy and carbon in line with science-based targets, and consistent government support for retrofit to reduce the energy demand of our building stock on a big scale.

Do you think education will need to change to help the industry tackle the issues we face?

Technical aspects of architecture are fundamental to success, including fire safety, quality processes, climate literacy, building physics, and life-cycle assessment. They need to be taught systematically and in depth, so that students aren’t left to fill the gaps once they are in practice.

WORDS ALEXANDRA CARAUSU, ALICE HAMLIN AND LAURA WILLIAMS

© Paul Raftery

This kind of technical knowledge builds confidence and would reduce the jump from university to the office.

Collaboration and cross-disciplinary understanding is a key part of our day-today jobs, and one of the most interesting and enjoyable aspects of our work. But it’s rare to experience this while studying. There are some programmes that tackle this gap, such as Teambuild UK and Studio in the Woods. We would love to see universities engaging with these and making them the norm within degree programmes and apprenticeships.

Student projects are a fantastic place to experiment without the constraints of reality, which is a powerful way to test out more radical solutions to our current challenges. On the other hand, we can’t place this responsibility solely on the new students coming through. As young professionals, we are sometimes told –usually as a well-meaning encouragement – that we are the ones who will change things. This can be frustrating – we need everyone, together, using all our experience, influence, and creativity, to shift to a more sustainable path so that the next generation have something to build on. The onus is on the whole industry, regardless of level and experience, to continue to upskill, seek solutions, and ask difficult questions.

Cambridge is often cited as a hotbed of innovation; how do you see innovation influencing local industry in the future? We feel privileged to work in Cambridge. There is wealth, investment, and clients, such as the university, that take a longterm view. We are often able to work to ambitious, forward-thinking briefs that enable exemplar projects to be realised, such as the Entopia Building retrofit and the university’s Civil Engineering building. These both adopted the highest standards, and in the case of the Civil Engineering building, developed a matrix to enable operational energy, upfront carbon,

Exemplar projects include the retrofit of the Entopia Building and biodiverse landscapes at Eddington

circular economy principles and cost to all be considered to achieve the most effective result. These projects help to raise ambitions and build skills locally. The quality is clearly reflected in the number of national awards and Stirling Prize nominations Cambridge buildings attract. We can use these skills and opportunities to advocate for good design, and seek to apply the city’s resources for the benefit of all its residents. The council is currently working to upgrade the thermal efficiency of its housing stock, to the benefit of its tenants, while the university is working towards improvements on its own buildings. Can we find new models toextend this work to the private market as well, and build a leading retrofit sector in Cambridge?

One area that it will be wonderful to see the impact of in 30 years is the current campaign by Natural Cambridgeshire to ‘double nature’. Like retrofit, increasing biodiversity and access to green space is a no-brainer in terms of the benefits for people and planet, but it is challenging to achieve. Local campaigns, backed by the emerging requirements for biodiversity net gain set out in the Environment Act 2021, could make a huge difference if developers embrace the benefits.

Overall, are you optimistic about the future of the construction industry?

There are undoubtedly challenges coming – both the ones we are facing now and ones that will emerge as the impacts of climate change kick in and force an accelerated pace of change. Our responsibility now is to learn and test ideas as much as we can so that we are able to face these challenges well.

We are optimistic that the future of construction will be an interesting and dynamic industry in which to work. Many of the changes – more local, ‘slow’ architecture with greater community involvement – will be positive, requiring creativity and technical expertise to adapt our environments and, we hope, lead to a more equitable, safe and beautiful city.

Legal expertise to build success

“We are sometimes told that we are the ones who will change things. We need everyone, together, using all our experience, influence, and creativity, to shift to a more sustainable path. The onus is on the whole industry”

© Sarah Blee J & L Gibbons

© Sarah Blee J & L Gibbons

How hot is too hot?

The introduction of Approved Document O (Overheating) in 2022, as part of the raft of changes introduced by the Building Safety Act, has meant that more detailed calculations are required for new homes. Nick Kendall, of LABC, lifts the lid on the calculation methods and their complexities

WORDS NICK KENDALL, LABC

The goal of the Building Act 1984 has always been to secure the health, safety, welfare and convenience of people in or about buildings. Until recently, there has been norequirement to focus on the ill health effects of overheating. According to the Future Homes Hub: “Excessive temperatures are a particular problem when people are trying to sleep. Heat-related deaths are expected to more than triple, to 7,000 a year, by the 2050s.”

The intention of new Approved Document O (AD O) is to limit unwanted solar gains in summer and provide adequate means to remove heat from the indoor environment.

For years, we have been trying to accumulate the benefits of solar gains, incorporating thermal mass to retain the gains accrued during the day. It is now clear that not all solar gains are beneficial, so AD O seeks to limit the effects. AD O only applies to new residential buildings; the complication is that all new dwellings will be different. Designers in the northern

hemisphere have known for decades to keep larders cool by placing them on northerly walls, to avoid bedrooms being on west facing elevations so they don’t receive unwanted solar gains, and give daytime spaces such as living rooms a southerly aspect so they are bright – so we shouldn’t find this too hard, should we?

Within AD O there are two methods to achieve acceptable design to avoid overheating. One is a dynamic software approach; you need the right software and the right people to drive it, and that should be done very early in the design stage to successfully influence the proposed building.

The other is a simplified approach. However, while the dynamic method is not simple, the ‘simplified’ approach is still far from simple. The Future Homes Hub notes that “… with a new regulation comes new challenges; the tools to analyse overheating are unfamiliar to many, with implications on the positioning, types and specification of glazing, impacts on energy calculations, and quite possibly a need for shading.

“For years, we have been trying to accumulate the benefits of solar gains. It is now clear that not all are beneficial, so AD O seeks to limit the effects”

Things to consider when looking to reduce overheating

● Remember that there are essentially two parts to AD O: Mitigation and Usability.

● There might be conflicts between AD O, and AD F and K, and that AD O takes primacy.

● Integrate early solutions for noise, security and safety that complement the goal, while allowing as much glazing as possible to be openable for ventilation.

● Ensure windows used to remove heat are accessible to open, but also don’t have a guarding issue where there may be differences in levels.

● Try to design in cross-ventilation. Have windows on opposite sides of the dwelling to encourage air flow. This could be combined with thermal mass so that, in the summer, heat can be drawn out overnight and released from the building and controlled in the winter to take advantage of heat gained. The other thing to think about is how high levels of cross-ventilation coordinate with any fire safety design for means of escape.

● Don’t forget the benefits of i) winter solar gains ii) the need for adequate daylighting to avoid the requirement for artificial lighting iii) the human need for views.

● Incorporate external shading and/or solar control glazing in high-risk locations

● Incorporate solar shading within the building design and don’t rely on features over which you have no control.

Circumstances where dwellings will need dynamic design:

● More than one residential unit with community heating (as in common corridors or district or multi-dwelling heating system). The heat loss from community heating can be a significant contributor to the accumulation of heat, which is difficult to remove.

● Where windows are not openable because of restrictions resulting from noise and pollution levels.

● Where high levels of insulation and/or airtightness are a requirement.

Key guidance documents:

● Future Homes Hub: https://www.futurehomes.org.uk/guidance

● AD O official FAQs: bit.ly/CA84-ADO

These implications on design need to be taken into account, even before planning applications are made.”

Last summer, temperatures reached 40.3°C: it will be remembered as the warmest summer since 1884. Our built environment did not perform well, and the expectation is that the summer we experienced will not be unusual in the future. Our options are limited with our existing housing stock, butwe need to try harder with new dwellings. Wenow need dwellings that don’t leak heat and are thermally efficient, yet don’t get too hot and overheat either.

AD O gives us maximum glazed areas, determined based on orientation, and the use of shading in high-risk locations.

The Future Homes Hub has a free spreadsheet to help with the calculations needed for the simplified method: bit.ly/CA84-futurehomeshub

Remember, it is no accident that the building regulation requirement ‘O’ came in with new Approved Documents F and L: all work together to achieve the desired solution of low energy, efficient, comfortable homes. This is also a step change towards the 2025 Future Homes Standard.

New AD O aims to limitsolar gains and remove heat from the indoor environment

Overheating is going to be a difficult puzzle to deal with, and you can already understand that the orientation of the building has a massive influence on its performance, which is something you need to know even before seeking planning permission. To achieve success with ADO, you will need to have so much more foresight than previously. And yet, as the world warms up, it is a puzzle that we need to solve.

Acknowledgements go to the guidance provided by the Future Homes Hub

©

Driving building quality

CFCI set to host essential half-day conference

SUSIE LOBER

The Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry (CFCI), supported by the Cambridge University Land Society Residential Forum, was set to host a half-day conference on 6 December at Robinson College – The Drive for Building Quality.

The new Building Safety Act 2022 is expected to have a huge impact on the construction industry. The intention is to ensure that building safety is a priority when it comes to the design, construction and operation of all forms of building and to drive a culture of quality in construction.

The act is part of the response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy of 2017 and includes an overhaul of existing regulations covering building standards and construction materials. It requires the production of critical information about how a building is constructed and gives extensive new rights to claim compensation by those impacted by inadequate building work. The event was due to bring together speakers from RICS, RIBA, NHBC and the insurance sector, to address key issues given rise to by this new act.

Gary Strong, Global Standards Director at Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), was expected to set the scene. The Grenfell Tower fire focused the world’s attention on how many buildings are threatened with the prospect of failing fire safety standards. Strong’s background as a chartered building surveyor specialising in post-fire investigation work resulted in him leading the RICS fire safety team in the response to the Grenfell fire. Strong has been heavily involved in lobbying government to ensure that the act is fair and just.

The viewpoint of building owners and their tenants was expected to be provided by Liz Oliver, Safer Homes Director at Hyde Housing Association. In a landmark ruling from the High Court in July 2022, Hyde was awarded £10.8m in damages and costs from Mulalley & Co, when it became the first housing association to win a court case against a contractor for installing defective cladding. The ruling set a crucial example that construction contractors can be held accountable for the remedial costs of removing dangerous cladding. Hyde aims to be a sector leader in building safety and, over the past two years, Oliver has led major building safety work on 10 residential buildings and thousands of smaller projects.

Sarah Kiesel, Senior Technical Operations Manager at NHBC, was set to explain how homes warranty and insurance has been impacted by the act. The purpose of NHBC is to build confidence in the construction quality of new homes by assessing, inspecting and directly insuring new

homes registered. According to provisions in the Building Safety Act, all developers will have to secure a 15-year structural warranty for new builds and conversions before selling them. This legal requirement will extend the minimum building warranty term from the current 10 years. Retrospective liability is also being increased from six years up to 30 years, allowing more home buyers to claim compensation for defects. Kiesel was expected to outline what will be required from developers to meet these new quality standards.

Attendees were also expected to hear from Jane Duncan, founder of Jane Duncan Architects, PP RIBA and Chair of the RIBA’s Expert Advisory Group on Fire Safety. Duncan has spent the past five years meeting ministers, MPs, civil servants, and the industry to discuss the desperate need for change, to support a better and safer regulatory system for buildings. She was set to emphasise the cultural shift required in the industry and the role of the architect in designing in safety and designing out risk. Architects’ skills and competence will now be under scrutiny like never before.

The final speaker was set to be John Winter from Apex Insurance, with whom attendees to the monthly CAA events may be familiar; he ran an excellent insurance Q&A session for us earlier this year. Following Grenfell, PII premiums have

increased by as much as 300 per cent, and many architects have found they are unable to obtain PII cover for issues relating to fire safety. The retrospective nature of the Defective Premises Act changes – now covering works to existing homes, new homes and homes resulting from change of use – means that 15 years’ worth of house alterations and extensions could be in the frame, and likely to affect premiums. The complexity and risk of disputes has increased, and the increased liability that falls on architects adds a further level of uncertainty to the critical professional indemnity insurance issue.

Before the networking lunch, a panel discussion was scheduled for attendees to have the opportunity to pose questions to all the speakers. The conference was expected to be attended by more than 100 participants from across the construction industry, including many architects.

“Dame Judith Hackitt’s report following the Grenfell tragedy was published in 2018, more than four years ago, and called for a wholesale review of regulation and procurement. It was titled Building for a Safer Future, and that is exactly what the act is aiming to do;it touches all aspects of construction. As an industry, it is imperative that we embrace the challenge ahead and work together towards that aim,” said Meredith Bowles, Chair CFCI.

WORDS

Helping to tackle the emergency

Three years ago, in the wake of a couple of key reports from the IPCC and widespread climate protests in London, the CAA held an event to discuss what built environment professionals could do in response to the climate crisis. Here is an update on its progress

WORDS ALICE HAMLIN

Back in 2019, it was clear that practitioners in Cambridge were deeply concerned about the climate crisis, but at that time it felt like there was little guidance on where to direct our energies.

This has changed considerably over the past few years, even with the disruption of Covid lockdowns. Organisations such as the RIBA, LETI, the Green Building Council, Architects Declare and ACAN have all been producing fantastic resources, setting out the targets we need to be aiming for and providing tools to enable us to do this.

This isn’t to say that it’s easy now, and it still feels like an uphill battle when even ambitious clients are struggling to retain their sustainability aspirations through all the pressures on a project. But having consistency across the industry is key for us as practitioners. It is now much easier for us to quickly understand the main issues and how to tackle them. During this time, the industry has also fed a consistent message back to the government, influencing the new Part L and F Building Regulations; the in-progress Future Homes Standards; and the first steps towards regulating embodied carbon.

If you’ve not yet come across these resources, LETI’s publications and Architects Declare’s Practice Guide are the place to start. Architects Declare and ACAN also have a growing resource of recorded webinars to get into more depth. Although it can seem overwhelming to start with, there are a small number of central topics and you will be surprised how quickly you can get up to speed. Talking to others with expertise in these areas will help deepen

your understanding, and what better way to do this than coming along to local events.

Staying up to date

The CAA has sought to keep members up to date with the latest resources and campaigns run by these built environment organisations through our newsletters. At a local level, we have run a number of events, both online and in person, on topics including EPCs and life-cycle assessments, retrofit, passive house, embodied carbon, the RIBA 2030 challenge, and, most recently, M&E strategies for low-energy buildings. These have been practical sessions, aimed at providing knowledge and insight that can be applied day to day in our projects.

Here are some of the key points we’ve learned from these events:

● The greatest potential for impact is at the start of a project – we must talk to all our clients about the issues and options early on and challenge the brief to ensure we’re only building what is absolutely needed. Even if there isn’t a fee for specialist input or life-cycle assessment, this doesn’t mean we can’t act – having an awareness of where the big wins can be made is much more important than having accurate measurements.

● The ‘upfront carbon’ cost of our buildings is typically 30-50 per cent of its whole life carbon impact, and will become an even larger proportion as we continue to improve operational performance – so this is a really significant area to tackle. Measures to reduce embodied carbon can be cost neutral or even save money. Using sensible grid sizes and giving the structural engineer more depth to work with results in a more efficient structure overall.

● The electricity grid is rapidly decarbonising, and it is key that we move homes towards electric heating to get the benefit of this. But for this end goal to be feasible, we need to dramatically reduce demand in the first place. Passive house is a proven method to do this, and it doesn’t have to be difficult. Learning and understanding the principles allows them to be applied to projects regardless of whether they are targeting certification, and so can help us tackle the performance gap and get the most out of every project. Heat pumps (almost always air source) are the go-to option for heating – replacing natural gas with hydrogen is inefficient and just doesn’t make sense for heating buildings.

Cambridge climate march

© Alice Hamlin

Get involved

Looking forwards, we are intending to carry on with these events, and welcome suggestions for topics and speakers.

In particular, we would love to feature project case studies, whether in progress or complete – lessons learned from real projects are invaluable. We’re also keen to connect with all professionals; we often have as many engineers at our events as architects and would love to increase the multi-disciplinary mix.

Many of our events so far, and the industry’s response as a whole, have been focused on the technical solutions. What targets should we be aiming for, how do we achieve these, what are the steps to get

there? These are all important and provide a good base level of knowledge from which to start. Alongside this, however, we can also build a vision of how the world could be, so that we can use this time of crisis to push for something better – a more equitable, abundantly green and beautiful world that provides a strong social foundation for all people without overshooting what our planet can support.

Maintaining engagement with the climate emergency is painful and challenging. It requires us to grapple with huge issues beyond what we can affect as individuals and balance our concerns for the planet with our personal health and wellbeing.

Because of the length of time most construction projects take, progress in our industry can feel glacially slow at a time when we need to be racing. One approach to tackling this anxiety is to work at different scales; when you’re bogged down in door schedules and ground perimeter details, it can help to check out what wider events are going on, and whether there are any consultations or campaigns to which you can give input to widen your impact.

Linking up with groups and communities that hold the same concerns is another way to support yourself and can help keep you connected with what you value and what you are working to protect.

There are

a wide range of publications available to help you get up to speed on the main issues around climate change and how to tackle them

© RICS

© LETI

© LETI

© Doughnut Economics

Appreciating your strengths

With a looming recession and rising material and energy prices, it’s useful to remember that your vital resources are those already within you, and around you. Karen Adams, mindset and career coach, shares some tips on maintaining a positive and success-orientated mindset in difficult times

WORDS KAREN ADAMS

When Shakespeare wrote: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”, he was exactly right. Reframing seemingly insurmountable problems is vital when learning to succeed in these interesting times.

Suppose we want to learn how to flourish in times of economic uncertainty, with rising energy prices, material costs and taxation. In that case, we must learn to see our ever-changing situation more neutrally. When something happens that we perceive as a problem or threat (as long as it is not immediate and physical), we ask: “What can I learn from this?” or even: “How can I use this to thrive?” And the answers may well vary from person to person.

Research has shown that positive emotions such as gratitude, hope or interest help humans to look at challenges with an open mind and solve problems more creatively. One method of using positive emotions to fuel positive change is Appreciative Inquiry. The name sounds obscure, but the definitions tell us everything we need to know: to appreciate is to notice, honour, and increase; to inquire is to ask questions. So, we ask questions that will help us to see, celebrate and grow what is good.

Asking appreciative questions of ourselves and the people around us can help us to find the good in a situation. And when we build enthusiasm from what we have already achieved, we can use that momentum to reach an even more successful and enjoyable future.

Find the good

If you are working on your own, take the opportunity to reflect on your past successes and best experiences. Then spend some time thinking about what you want: ask yourself what you most enjoy and want more of in your business. Then consider what you could do to fill any gaps in your skills, knowledge, or network that might help create this outcome.

If you are working with or leading a team, consider setting up a day to talk about successful projects you have worked on and what your team is most proud of. Ask for others’ best experiences

and share your own. Spend time connecting with the rest of your team: get to know each other’s skills and interests better. This will allow you to bond and build on shared interests to co-create a vision of the company’s future.

Whatever you’ve been doing, whatever projects you’ve worked on, and whomever you have worked with, you’ve had unique experiences that have helped shape who you are. When we spend time working on what is fulfilling, we can find an enjoyable and productive direction in which to move forward.

Treat every situation as an exciting possibility

and invest time in asking different people about their experiences. Other perspectives are always valuable and staying open-minded and seeing something from a new angle may be just the thing that inspires you to your subsequent phenomenal success.

Karen Adams is a mindset and career coach who helps construction industry professionals rediscover their zest for life and work. For more articles about mindset or to learn more about Karen, visit www.rathergoodcoaching.com

Work in progress

River home eco-refurb

Mart Barrass Architect (Ltd.)

Planning approval has been granted for the remodelling and eco-refurbishment and extension of an existing brick-built house next to the River Great Ouse near Ely designed by MBA (Ltd.) An existing garage is to be demolished and replaced with a stop-motion animation studio to produce children’s animated films. The existing house, new extension, and new animation studio are clad in vertical timber to unify the whole scheme and visually tie the two detached buildings together. The upper level of the animation studio provides commanding views up and down the river.

1950s house remodel

David Osborn Architects

A major remodel and large extension to a 1950s house in a South Cambridgeshire village by David Osborn Architects is nearing completion. The extension has doubled the floor area of the original dwelling by extending at the front, side and rear and includes major external works with landscaping of the garden. Extensive work has been carried out improving the thermal efficiency of the original house including upgrading the external fabric and the installation of an ASHP. The project is on course to be finished by Christmas 2022.

Village retrofit

Following planning approval in August, studio24 has recently issued its tender design for this five-bedroom property retrofit, extension and extensive remodel in Littlebury. The retrofit will include replacing the oil-fired heating system with a low temperature ASHP, replacement triple-glazed windows/ doors and roof insulation to assist the owner’s low energy transition. The project follows completion of two low-energy new houses for multi-generational living, also in the area.

studio24 architects

New London apartments

Mole Architects

Working with a community organisation, Mole Architects is developing designs for a new apartment building in London containing 15 flats and a communal garden. The building is in a conservation area, and is designed using vertical tile hanging and laser-cut screens to balconies to reflect someof the historic detailing in the new building. Designed with PHPP software, the building is set to conform to the Passivhaus standard and a target of Homes Quality Mark 4*.

Clare College accommodation

Archangel Architects

Construction has started on Archangel’s refurbishment and retrofit of 1920s student accommodation for Clare College.

The building currently has a heat loss value of 38kW, which equates to an annual footprint of more than 17 tonnes of CO2. The proposed upgrades to the fabric of the building are designed to deliver EnerPHit standard performance equivalence under the energy demand method, which will reduce the heat loss value to 12.5kW, that is, by two thirds.

In conjunction with these fabric improvements, given that the College buys all its electricity on a 100 per cent renewables tariff (and with much of it sourced locally from within Cambridgeshire), the move to an air source heat pump will reduce the carbon footprint for this building to zero.

Victorian home extension

Bassett Architects

A new extension to a Victorian house in Cambridge, designed by Bassett Architects, retains the existing return to create a courtyard within the building. The extension is a series of spaces, delineated by light and by volume, with a series of moments to stop and sit, to enjoy art, or the garden, or a naturally lit book. The architects have taken advantage of a flat roof form, with varying green roof levels and roof-lights, along with narrow windows at different levels in the east façade, further enhancing the delineation of spaces within.

Hackney office building

Borough Architects

Hackney’s ‘smallest office building’ has been given the go-ahead. Borough Architects’ design replaces a former taxi office. Hackney Council approved the plans to demolish the existing single-storey shop in Brookfield Road, which has a gross internal area of 12m², and replace it with a 25m² two-storey headquarters for a local storage and removals company.

© Mole

© Archangel Architects © Michael Hinich

© Bassett Architects