Suffolk One heated by Interseasonal Heat Transfer™ from ICAX™
Interseasonal Heat Transfer has been chosen as the sustainable heating source for the exciting new 16 to 19 college of learning being built on a 12 acre site on the outskirts of Ipswich: Suffolk One.
Bob Dool, the SWISS Partnership Director, says that Suffolk County Council has planned the new £65 million Suffolk One Sixth Form College as a state-of-the-art learning environment which will provide for learners from 14 institutions, including eight high schools.
Alan Whittaker, the newly appointed head of Suffolk One said: “I feel proud and privileged to be chosen to lead the new college and become part of this exciting collaborative development.”
Suffolk One College opened its doors in September 2010 to provide academic and applied learning for more than 2,000 teenagers from schools like Chantry High School, Claydon High School, East Bergholt High School, Hadleigh High School, Otley College and Westbourne Sports College.
Suffolk One Design
Suffolk One is a landmark development providing modern and flexible teaching since it opened in September 2010. The 20,200 m
Solar Thermal Collector for Interseasonal Heat Transfer
employs 14 km of pipework embedded in the bus turning area
The vocational block to the north and teaching clusters to the south surround a central atrium. All teaching areas provide flexible work spaces with generous provision of sky-lights to maximise natural daylight.
The ground floor of the central space includes a canteen and informal breakout areas for students to work on wireless-enabled laptops and computers. A double height drama and performance space has also been provided together with a six court sports hall and Multi Use Games Area with access for the local community.
Due to the close proximity of the A1214 dual carriageway, natural ventilation would not have been possible to teaching spaces and as such John Packer Associates, the M&E Consultants, engineered solutions "using low energy and sustainable technologies wherever possible to reduce energy consumption across the site whilst maintaining comfortable internal conditions".
JPA choose Interseasonal Heat Transfer from ICAX to meet these criteria.
Sustainable Space Heating Design
The ICAX design for IHT collects heat from asphalt solar collectors in the bus turning areas in summer, stores the heat in ThermalBanks in the ground, and releases heat to Suffolk One in winter using ground source heat pumps.
Solar Thermal Collector for Interseasonal Heat Transfer
collects heat in the summer to charge ThermalBanks
to provide space heating in winter
without burning fossil fuels
The ICAX skid mounted equipment also captures surplus heat from the roof mounted solar thermal collectors, whose primary function is to provide hot water, so that the heat generated from thermal panels in the long summer holidays is not wasted (and the life of the panels will be prolonged).
Suffolk One is the first Sixth Form College to benefit from Interseasonal Heat Transfer and demonstrates Suffolk County Council's commitment to renewable energy and education for sustainable development.
A wide range of energy efficient mechanical and electrical systems has being installed at Suffolk One with the aim of achieving a targeted BREEAM rating of "very good". As well as Interseasonal Heat Transfer, rainwater harvesting, Windcatcher and Sunpipe systems are being employed to provide natural ventilation and light. Suffolk One also includes the first installation of Sanyo's co-generation VRF air conditioning system in the UK. These systems will enable One to make long-term savings and reduce its carbon emissions.
The targeted BREEAM rating of "very good" has since been achieved.
Michael Peachey, director of estates and commercial services at Suffolk One, said, "It provides an outstanding place of learning for students and an exceptional environment in which to work. We opened our doors in September 2010 and have therefore not yet completed a full year of operation. The building-services system is designed to optimise efficiency over the course of a year, collecting and storing waste heat in the summer and harnessing it to heat the building in the winter. It is a pioneering approach that could set the direction for sustainable buildings in the future. Students are able to incorporate the design and operation of the systems into the project work to support their curriculum."
Wayne Blunden, who heads the Norland Managed Services facilities-management team at the site, says. "It's a highly creative and sustainable design, not just in the use of low-carbon technologies but in the way they combine and support each another. The key, in terms of both energy efficiency and comfort conditions, is optimal balancing with high-level intelligent control. This is taken care of by the building-management system. The contributing systems will be tuned over the course of time, in line with load conditions generated by use of the building and in relation to changing seasons. As with any new building, this is a learning process and requires ongoing calibration as use of the building evolves."
Gas free heating system
Interseasonal Heat Transfer is a gas-free heating system: there is no "back-up" gas boiler on site.
Renewable Heat Incentive
Suffolk One benefits from a cashback of 9.09 pence per kilowatt hour of renewable heat generated by Interseasonal Heat Transfer from the Renewable Heat Incentive.
See Ground Source Heating See Ground Source Cooling See Ground Source Energy
See also: REHAU press release on Suffolk One Interseasonal Heat Transfer installation.
