Zerokarb
MJP Projects
CREO APARTMENT BUILDING, BRE
INNOVATION PARK
The CREO Apartment Building, designed by MJP Architects and pictured in section
and elevation above, is
under construction at the Building Research Establishment Innovation Park at
Garston, Hertfordshire. It is designed to combine economy with the achievement
of Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The
key to this combination of economy and sustainability is the use of highly
efficient Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF). Hollow interlocking blocks made
from expanded polystyrene are stacked together without mortar, like Lego
bricks. Steel reinforcing rods are placed through the cavities, which are then
pumped full of special concrete that has low embedded energy. A wall under
construction is pictured to the right.
Floor plans are designed to the size of the interlocking blocks, to minimise cutting and wastage. In addition to economy and low wastage, ICF provides good thermal mass.
The four storey CREO Apartment
Building contains a Marks & Spencer store on the ground floor, an apartment on
the first floor, and a duplex apartment on the third and fourth floors.
The image above shows how the CREO Apartment Building could be integrated into a
wider sustainable housing scheme. An animated presentation of plans and
sections, with fly-through, is
here.
Partners in the project include
CREO Prokoncept supplying the ICF system, Aggregate Industries supplying the
special low embedded energy concrete, and Daikin supplying the air source heat
pump. The engineering and sustainability consultants to the project are
Pick Everard.
OTHER MJP HOUSING PROJECTS
The
design of the CREO Apartment Building benefits from the experience of a series
of award winning housing projects by MJP Architects. These include Friendship
House, Belvedere Place, London SE1 and Priory Place, Coventry, both of which won
RIBA National Design Awards.
Friendship House is pictured to the
right. It comprises 179 bed-sit rooms arranged in a spiral fitting tightly to
the site's constricted boundaries. The bed-sit rooms are arranged around a
central courtyard containing a pool and fountain which reflect light and produce
a gentle white noise that camouflages the noise of the
nearby railway and streets. Cutting
across this quiet space is a green slate walkway which connects the main ground
floor common rooms back to the reception area.
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The Zerokarb website is published by MJP Architects, 9 Heneage Street, Spitalfields, London E1 5LJ. Tel: 020 7377 9262. Fax: 020 7247 7854. Email: mjp@mjparchitects.co.uk. Website: www.mjparchitects.co.uk. Director responsible for Housing: Duncan McKinnon.
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