The Edge Hill Way - Thursday 4th February 2016

The APM East of England Branch could not have found a better venue than the Law Building at the University of Hertfordshire for The Edge Hill Way event. The Law Court Building was awarded ‘The Most Sustainable Construction Award 2011’ by Building Futures and was shortlisted for several other awards and  both speakers were aware of this recognition.

David Oldham, Director of Capital Developments at Edge Hill University, and Matthew Pendergast, Director of Identity Consult, shared with an engaged audience how construction projects were undertaken at Edge Hill University within exceptionally short periods of time and providing surprising levels of value for money.  We were shown pictures of ‘before’ and ‘after’ for some buildings where the elapsed time between them was a mere 14 weeks.  

The Hub building was enthusiastically described and the use of curved glass and copper cladding in its design and construction was highlighted. It was completed in September 2011 and offers excellent dining, retail and social experience facilities for all students, staff and visitors (see picture below).  
 
Some other case studies were described in more detail, i.e. Biosciences Building, Creative Edge Building and Phase 1&2 Residences. Their commitment to sustainability was highlighted by explaining the use of heat recovery, the export of waste heat, the use of Sustainable Urnab Drainage Solutions (SUDS) and  irrigation water recycling and the specification and installing of sustainable materials.  In fact, the new accommodation created was 20% more energy efficient than CIBSE Best Practice Benchmarks and 30% more than CIBSE Typical Practical Benchmarks.

Edge Hill University has won a number of design awards for various projects, for example, the West Lancashire Design Awards for the Hub in 2013.  All these awards could not have been achieved without a great team and strategies to support it; mentoring, career development, social activities, assigning the right person to the right project and an utmost commitment to collaborative working that enabled longevity of the whole team and achievement of outstanding results.

The Edge Hill University has been named University of the Year for 2015 by the Times Higher University Award and ’The Edge Hill Way’ is undoubtedly a unique factor in this success.

Maria Duncan
East of England Branch Committee Member