-
- Customer
- University of Hertfordshire
-
- Completion Date
- June 2011
-
- Value
- £7.1m
-
- Area
- 24,000 sq ft
-
- Program Duration
- 53 weeks
Overview
The Law School occupies a prominent position on the University of Hertfordshire’s de Havilland campus.
The project
The building is unique in many ways. It is the UK’s first fully functioning courtroom designed purely for training purposes and includes a bespoke curved stone and glass façade as a key design feature. The reconstituted curved stone is the first of its kind in the UK, and there is only one place in Europe that produces the glass in this size with the radii of curvature that was required. High-performing acoustics were required - 40db walls throughout and 60db in the courtroom. The latter was achieved through investigation and rigorous analysis of the design.
The project has won numerous awards including the Hertfordshire biennial Building Futures Awards 2011 for Most Sustainable Construction and RICS East of England Awards - Design & Innovation.
Sustainability
Sustainability was a main focus for the university and the project achieved both an EPC ‘A’ Rating and BREEAM ‘Excellent’. An interactive energy monitor was installed in the reception area. The innovative E-stack system air conditioning achieved the BREEAM innovation award; it was manufactured off site and factory tested to interface with the Building Management System.
The project achieved 90% recycling stats ensuring that 300,000kg of waste did not go to landfill. Timber was given to a local charity for re-use and materials on site were sourced as locally as possible. ISG undertook extensive soil remediation and replaced all the meadow wild flowers following construction.
