The Cockcroft Building, University of Brighton was presented at the AT Awards live finals on 7 November 2022 at the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health to a jury comprising, Nana Biamah-Ofosu, Peter Bishop, Hanif Kara, David Partridge, Simon Allford and Chair Isabel Allen. Read about how the project has stood the test of time, below.
The thermal performance of the 1960s façade was radically improved by the use of thermally broken aluminium windows. Credit: Richard Chivers
In repurposing the 15,000-square metre modernist Cockcroft Building at the University of Brighton, FBM Architects carried out one of the largest retrofits of an occupied academic facility in the UK.
The prefabricated structure is supported by the external frame, which allowed the design team to move the circulation from a dark, narrow, central spine corridor to a south-facing ‘solar’ corridor, freeing up floorplate for agile workspaces for formal and social learning.
The building was stripped back to expose the concrete structure, allowing it to be used as a heat store radiating cooler night time air in summer and warmer temperatures in winter. This meant omitting suspended ceilings from 85 per cent of the building which, combined with the omission of vinyl sheet flooring, saved £707k and 244 tonnes of embodied CO2. The thermal properties of the building envelope were radically improved by replacing all 986 of the original steel-framed Crittall windows with thermally broken aluminium frames with solar control and low-e glazing. Internal wall insulation was fitted to all external walls along with insulation to all floor structure to reduce thermal bridging.
Opening up the floorplate created opportunities for bright, open and flexible spaces throughout the building. Credit: Richard Chivers
Two 90-metre deep bore holes create an aquifer thermal energy storage system, which delivers 100 per cent of the cooling load of the building and 92 per cent of the heating load. The system extracts (and returns) 60m3 /hr of water and uses the thermal mass of the ground to heat or cool the building.
The pre-retrofit EPC rating of F has been replaced by a post-retrofit upgrade to EPC B. Energy use reduced by 57 per cent and annual fuel bills dropped from £124k to £42k through a comprehensive fabric upgrade, full replacement of services with low-energy, low-consumption fittings and the large-scale installation of renewables though solar and ground sources.
