Net Zero Women & Children's Hospital

Ecospheric has supported this project in the role of NHS Net Zero Carbon Building Standard Coordinator which is a cross functional position to enable holistic whole life decarbonisation of every aspect of the building. Our company played a unique role in developing an optioneering engine to optimise all design and build decisions. This process involved capturing all proposals from the architectural, structural, building services, and clinical teams and processing these through a carbon calculation matrix in order to understand impact of each proposal on carbon reduction, cost, and suitability.

The proposed development comprises a low carbon three storey, ~12,000m² healthcare facility certifying as BREEAM excellent, adopting elements set out in the Countess Going Greener Strategy and conforming to the new NHS Net Zero Carbon Building Standard (NZC-BS). In addition the design team have been operating under a number of maxims used within the construction industry in order help designers focus and sequence the design process for maximum decarbonisation.

The process to date has resulted in 82 tonnes of carbon saved per year when compared with the UK Building Regulations Part L Notional Building. This has been achieved by employing the following measures:

• Enhanced airtightness

• Roof mounted photovoltaic array

• Optimisation of glazing quantity and orientation

• More efficient massing

• Energy efficient plant and equipment specified where possible

• Adoption of Air Source Heat Pumps

• Adoption of high efficiency heat recovery Air Handling Units for ventilation

• Enhanced glazing to triple glazing

Ecospheric has also carried out a lifecycle carbon assessment (LCA) on the project to determine the whole life carbon impact of the project. The optioneering process has resulted in a 15.6% improvement in whole life carbon impact of the project through the reduction of 1215 tonnes.