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As part of this they are required to produce a Sustainability Proposal and Strategic Environmental Assessment.
* Longbridge Area Action Plan * Forming part of a larger development plan the Bournville College construction also falls within the Longbridge area action plan which incorporated a much larger development including housing, retail areas, youth centre, leisure facilities and highway improvements. This incorporated a landscape and environmental action plan so the design had to encompass the overall development brief as well as the specific college brief. * A key theme of the plan is Sustainability and the creation of Sustainable Communities to help feed into Birmingham’s overall Sustainability Plan for the Future.
* Birmingham Sustainability Plan * A plan to ensure Birmingham achieves government targets for sustainability which include energy targets, environmental issues, transport, diversity …show more content…
The most popular methods currently available are photovoltaics, wind turbines and biomass boilers. It is important not to just start installing these as standard without looking at the individual building requirements and capability for obtaining energy through these means. It would be unsustainable to carry out costly installations and not achieve the desired results. Biomass boilers are by far the best method for energy production but they are most efficient when there is a constant draw on that energy. Short College days and holiday periods do not make this practical for application to a College only but could be more effective if used to provide energy throughout the community. Biomass boilers are larger, costlier and fuel can be purchased much more cheaply in bulk so they tend to be better suited to a district heating system where adequate storage can be designed in. While not widely implemented throughout the UK we should consider Denmark where 60% of energy is provided through District Heating Systems. Further benefits of these systems are that CO2 emissions are reduced by over 90% when compared to fossil fuel equivalents. The difficulty in implementing these systems more widely is due to the initial cost to set up and run these systems so it is more manageable to introduce them gradually in conjunction with new wider development
* Longbridge Area Action Plan * Forming part of a larger development plan the Bournville College construction also falls within the Longbridge area action plan which incorporated a much larger development including housing, retail areas, youth centre, leisure facilities and highway improvements. This incorporated a landscape and environmental action plan so the design had to encompass the overall development brief as well as the specific college brief. * A key theme of the plan is Sustainability and the creation of Sustainable Communities to help feed into Birmingham’s overall Sustainability Plan for the Future.
* Birmingham Sustainability Plan * A plan to ensure Birmingham achieves government targets for sustainability which include energy targets, environmental issues, transport, diversity …show more content…
The most popular methods currently available are photovoltaics, wind turbines and biomass boilers. It is important not to just start installing these as standard without looking at the individual building requirements and capability for obtaining energy through these means. It would be unsustainable to carry out costly installations and not achieve the desired results. Biomass boilers are by far the best method for energy production but they are most efficient when there is a constant draw on that energy. Short College days and holiday periods do not make this practical for application to a College only but could be more effective if used to provide energy throughout the community. Biomass boilers are larger, costlier and fuel can be purchased much more cheaply in bulk so they tend to be better suited to a district heating system where adequate storage can be designed in. While not widely implemented throughout the UK we should consider Denmark where 60% of energy is provided through District Heating Systems. Further benefits of these systems are that CO2 emissions are reduced by over 90% when compared to fossil fuel equivalents. The difficulty in implementing these systems more widely is due to the initial cost to set up and run these systems so it is more manageable to introduce them gradually in conjunction with new wider development