As the Great British public increasingly adopts a green agenda people are prepared to pay a little more for enviromentally friendly buildings. However developers and contractors are missing a trick by refusing to accept this, or so argues Chris Goodsall of Echo Architects Quattro Design.

When the  Barton Hill estate in Bristol is described as a “classic 1960s estate” it isn’t the same meaning of “classic” that you would apply to something like an E-Type Jag. Dominated by tower blocks and badly in need of regeneration, the Barton Hill estate is perhaps not a typical setting in which you would expect to see the seeds of sustainability taking root. And yet the community of Barton Hill has enthusiastically embraced sustainability and has managed the development of a healthy living centre, which is both environmentally and economically sustainable.

The award winning Wellspring Centre has been designed by Bristol’s Quattro Design and built by Pearce Construction as part of the New Deal for Communities (NDC) regeneration programme. The project has been driven by Community at Heart, a company established by residents to manage and deliver a 10-year, £50m regeneration programme funded through the NDC scheme. The residents of the Barton Hill estate were consulted throughout the design process and  more than half a dozen local artists were invited to submit works for the building, including stained glass panels, entrance gates and even structural features like the reception desk and staircase.

When Community at Heart approached Quattro Design with a brief for a sustainable facility to house an NHS surgery, dental practice, complementary health services, crèche, arts centre, and alcohol and drugs advice centre all under one roof, the sustainability requirement was one born initially out of necessity rather than altruism. Chris Goodsall of Quattro Design says the main driver for the scheme was the cost of maintaining the building. “Most of our clients are community clients who are interested in low running costs as opposed to low capital costs,” he says. “The capital costs they get funded, the running costs they have to find themselves. So in order to make a development economically sustainable, it is in their interest to make it as environmentally sustainable as possible.”

Goodsall says elements of the building that add to its green credentials can often be hidden from view, so the Centre’s designers made sure they flagged up some of its more sustainable features. “If you are designing a green building, very often you can’t see the green aspects which are built into it,” he says. “On the Wellspring Centre we built in 100m2 of photovoltaic panels laminated into glass so that people can see it both from inside and outside the building. That’s quite an expensive way to use photovoltaic cells but it was important to us that people were aware of the green aspect of the building.” Quattro designed an LCD display in the lobby to show how much power is being generated, how much power has been generated and how much carbon has been offset. “We wanted people to think about it,” he says. “After all, it is a healthy living centre and both ourselves and the client were concerned that we thought of health in the broader sense. You don’t want to produce a building which is concerned with health but which ultimately has a detrimental effect on the planet and people’s health in the long term. So having visible elements are part of the whole ethos of the building.”

The Wellspring Centre uses high insulation, high thermal mass and natural ventilation to help its energy performance. Quattro specified materials with low embodied energy and low environmental impact wherever possible. The building uses large amounts of timber, which has been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, as well as Rockwool insulation. “Rockwool is the most cost effective of the environmentally friendly insulation materials that we know of,” says Goodsall. “Most other insulation tends to have a much greater embodied energy and doesn’t perform as well. Often when we are looking at technologies we are looking at a payback of ten years. But introducing something as simple as extra insulation gives you a much quicker payback, perhaps in half the time.”

Quattro focussed on materials that would help cool the building, as it claims buildings use more energy for cooling buildings in the summer months than they do for heating in the winter. As global warming causes temperatures to rise in traditionally cooler climes such as the UK, the company claims, we are being forced to address the problems from our increasing demand for air conditioning.

The company says the current situation in China is a stark warning to European designers. Air conditioning is responsible for 40% of the energy used in Chinese cities and this affects the environment and the economy. The country’s coal stockpile has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years and electricity prices are rising rapidly. To try and combat the resulting blackouts, factories are being encouraged to confine production to cooler nocturnal hours when there is less demand for electricity, and offices have been asked not to set air conditioning any lower than 26C.

Quattro says European architects and developers are increasingly turning towards passive cooling methods to avoid such a scenario on this side of the world. They use passive solar design techniques to retain heat in winter and keep interiors cool in summer. These could include using natural ventilation to create air movement, exposing the cooling mass of a building through concrete, wooden and tiled floors and planting extra vegetation. Cleverly positioned trees, trellises and climbing plants create natural shade to protect buildings from the sun and green roofs trap heat and absorb sunlight.

The Wellspring Centre achieves high thermal mass through a blockwork inner skin and concrete floors, and high ceilings allow air to circulate rather than stagnate. Shallow rooms of around 4m reduce the distance between opposite walls and windows, so cooler air can reach through the entire depth of the space. A clear storey with opening windows on the top floor creates a “stack-effect” ventilation; hot air rises and exits, while replacement cool air enters beneath. The heavy construction of the building means it takes a long time to heat up and cool down, which avoids temperature fluctuations.

Goodsall says designers have to consider the whole life of a building to see the benefits of paying more for energy-efficient construction materials.“The Wellspring Centre is slightly more expensive because of the green technologies and materials used,” he says. “But our thinking is that if you add 5% to your build cost you should be able to design an extremely efficient building with sustainable materials and low embodied energy. It’s worth the extra cost.”

Goodsall says clients are the slowest to embrace energy-efficient technologies. “We find that it’s the developers who resist the green agenda the most,” he says. “The point that they consistently miss is that members of the public not only want sustainable buildings, but they are prepared to pay for them. It may not be much, but they will put money up front. What developers need to realise is that, if somebody is prepared to pay 5% more, then that’s extra value upon which they can make a profit.” Developers ought to be trying to actively sell a green product because they’ll make more money, Goodsall adds.

He says designers have to take the lead if the construction industry will create a market for sustainable building products and materials. “It’s a challenge, but the world can’t go on using resources at the rate it does,” Goodsall says. “Our economy is based around growth. There are going to be more and more people in the world who want a capital economy which is growing all the time, but that’s not sustainable. If you can create an economy which is based around green technology then you can develop a growing economy which is sustainable. But you can do both things at once.”

The Wellspring Centre demonstrates passive cooling methods are efficient, aesthetic and effective. With winter fast approaching heating may again be at the forefront of our minds, but Quattro claims last summer’s temperatures showed we need to take long-term action if we are to avoid future dependence on artificial methods of cooling. By fundamentally rethinking building design, the company claims, and adopting alternative measures on a wide scale, we can ensure that air conditioning does not become a major burden as our planet continues to heat up.