University of East Anglia
The Enterprise Centre, Low carbon Exemplar Building
The vision
Appointed, in conjunction with Coaction management Limited in the role of the Project Mentor for the development of an Exemplary Low Carbon Building, known as The Enterprise Centre (TEC) will house a new Centre for the Built Environment. The completed building is a visual “entrance” to the University and demonstrates all that UEA is renowned for in the fields of low carbon, innovation , teaching and research to all those entering the Campus.
Known as the “Greenist Building in the Country” for the University of East Anglia, this was a unique challenge requiring the successful achievement of key distinct sustainable goals. These include the following; BREEAM Outstanding, Passivhaus certification, 75% lower embodied carbon, 100 year design life, Use of bio based materials and the adoption of full BISRIA soft landings approach with a 2 year POE.
The project was a pioneer in the advancement of embodied carbon measurement & practical delivery. Innovations included; low carbon concrete (70% GGBS, 40% carbon reduction), prefabricated thatched rainscreen, recycled cladding materials, maximised use of natural materials (SonaSpray, Warmcell, Clay Board, Hemp & flint). The building epitomises a vision that pushed the boundaries of energy efficiency and low carbon construction techniques, from this perspective it is a superb exemplar of sustainable lifestyles and demonstrates the viability of NetZero building design.
Innovating and leading in low carbon, it has won numerous awards including BCO 2017 “Best of the Best”, Civic Trust & RIBA East Awards. The facility creates a unique and welcoming environment in a world class building of sustainable credentials designed to stimulate commercial enterprise, income generation, innovation and employability of UEA’s Graduates. The project was funded from various sources but principally ERDF, UEA and NRP.
The project will also trial a ‘UEA way’ for collaborative procurement, design, construction & facilities management providing measurement and establishment of facility KPIs.
Our Role
The project was procured via a single point delivery with a Contractor led team.
Our role was to act as an Executive Project Manager providing a guiding hand to the creation of a collaborative team. Throughout the project we championed the collaborative approach and administered the NEC3 contract form. Post completion successes highlighted by the team are testament to the culture adopted.
We instigated the application of an innovative risk management technique RADAR which demonstrated the team’s perception of the project throughout the projects lifecycle.
On first inspection many projects assume that synergy & consistency exists through the traditional reporting mechanisms and team meetings, but experience shows that this reporting tends to concentrate on historical fact, what can be proved, rather than the gut feeling of people who have many years of valuable project experience. RADAR concentrates on gut feelings, we monitoring them, over time, across delivery teams, across risks, to allow the team to explore emerging issues, changes in working practices, inter-team differences while they are current and before they become unchangeable historic facts.
