Unity Campus Phase II

Howard Group acquired eleven acres of land in 2011 with a vision of repurposing, what was a former tannery site, into a new urban innovation district in the heart of the Cambridgeshire Countryside.

It was envisioned by Howard Group that this innovation park would promote interaction and collaboration amongst the businesses within the park. This would not only need to be achieved through the type of occupants at this park, but also through the buildings designs and the potential for collaborative spaces within these buildings. It was also fundamental that the building would be built sustainably, which, life science buildings have historically been challenging to build.

Part of the aspiration for Unity Campus was, to demonstrate the possibility of constructing low carbon laboratories which could stand the test of time; efficiently and cost effectively. It was therefore a requirement that the project would achieve BREAAM Excellent, along with other carbon targets. The design approach would be key, which started early in the pre-construction phase and was realised during the main build.

The team baselined the ‘as-designed’ carbon performance, then used *CarboniCa to track changes and show the sustainability impact of design decisions in real-time. The use of CarboniCa throughout the design stages to model change supported the team to make decisions, such as:

• Swapping SFS for timber SIPS (saving 104 tCO2e),
• Replacing 50% of the cement content in the concrete foundations with GGBS (128 tCO2e),
• Using roll-out steel reinforcement as a low-waste, lower carbon alternative (23.5 tCO2e).

These models were updated during the build process to produce an accurate as-built model, including all available Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for specific materials, exact delivered and wasted quantities, and the distance travelled to site for delivery.

Whilst it wasn’t originally in the project brief to improve and monitor its operational energy, the approach changed during the design stage in response to market trends and the whole team’s drive for sustainable outcomes. This led to design changes such as improving the specification of the glazing for enhanced U-values which exceeded building regulations. A new natural ventilation solution was also adopted, to enable cross ventilation to all office areas, saving on operational energy requirements.

The project was the first Morgan Sindall Construction site to go diesel-free, achieving a carbon intensity for site operations of 187 kgCO2e/£100k project value, saving over 230 tCO2e.The team encouraged and supported the Supply Chain to adopt Green D+ HVO fuel, a sustainable alternative to diesel for plant, or electric-powered machinery. These alternatives also had an added air quality benefit, reducing harmful exhaust emissions. The success of this initiative has also given the business confidence to mandate this change nationally.

Constructing buildings and supporting the local community is a vital requirement for our projects. Whether that’s through supporting the next generation, supporting local members of the community or local businesses, our project teams always strive to provide more than just the building.