A new “ground-breaking” energy-efficient nursery at an historic university has been billed as one of the most sustainable projects of its kind.
Aberdeen University’s Rocking Horse Nursery was unveiled to the public for the first time yesterday – a £2million development that is the first pre-school facility in Scotland to adopt such a demanding energy-efficient design.
It is expected to be the first building in the country to achieve the combination of ‘Passivhaus’ accreditation and also be awarded ‘Excellent’ in the BREEAM industry-standard ratings scheme, the world’s foremost environmental assessment method for sustainable buildings.
The Passivhaus standard was developed in Germany in the early 1990s and is a rigorous, voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building.
Among the new features, developers have installed quadruple-glazed skylights, triple-glazed windows with insulated frames and spacers, grey-water harvesting for toilet flushing, solar panels to heat water, and LED lighting throughout.
The original Rocking Horse Nursery in the Powis Gate area, near the College bounds, opened in 1989 and cares for pre-school children of students and staff.
The new building will be able to cater for 78 children instead of 47.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, said he was delighted to be able to offer the youngest members of the university’s community such a “wonderful” facility.
The firms behind the design and construction – BMJ Architects and Burns Construction (Aberdeen) – said although it was a challenging project, it was extremely rewarding to create a building so sustainable.
Douglas Farmer, managing director of Burns Construction (Aberdeen), said the team had not encountered the style of build before, but that the concept worked.
“Team work was the order of the day as the learning curve for all parties involved was quite steep,” he said.
“It was obvious from the outset that the University had managed to select a team that could work together and our thanks go to all involved.”
