Jaguar LandRover uses CA’s SolarWall® and Colorcoat Prisma®
22 May 2009
Escalating energy bills make it clear that tackling climate change by reducing energy use would create significant economic and environmental benefits. Estimates suggest that 90 per cent of buildings standing in 2050 have already been built.
Therefore, improving the energy performance of the existing building stock, which accounts for 47 per cent of CO2 emissions, should be the priority. This is particularly important when you factor into the equation the 2008 introduction of Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) for all non-domestic buildings which effectively require commercial landlords to undertake energy performance assessments of their assets and then make public the results.
Forming part of a series of measures being introduced across Europe to tackle climate change, the specific aim of EPC’s is to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings and help reduce a building’s overall carbon emissions. As a result, EPCs stand to become one of the key drivers influencing building owners when it comes to improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings, especially in these cash-strapped times when the incentives to go down the commercial refurbishment route significantly outweigh the new-build option.
Illustrating what can be achieved with a committed refurbishment programme, the new Jaguar Land Rover Academy in Warwick is a case in hand which precisely demonstrates the environmental and economic benefits that refurbishment work can achieve.
In broad terms, the project brief involved the interior and exterior refurbishment of an existing 50,000 sq ft building to create a bespoke new training academy that brought together two pre-existing individual facilities previously based at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham, and Gaydon in Warwickshire. The finished scheme is one of the best-equipped automotive training facilities of its type, providing the very latest vehicles, components and systems for students.
Reflecting Jaguar Land Rover’s on-going commitment to implementing a programme of responsible progression, from product development, through the manufacturing process to construction, in a bid to reduce it’s carbon footprint. The completed project therefore incorporates a host of energy efficient solutions, the most significant being the specification of 268m2 of SolarWall® perforated Transpired Solar Collector (pTSC) using Corus Colorcoat Prisma® in Aridane, and is a system which alone will contribute to enabling the refurbished building to save more than 80,000kWh and an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions of 19 tonnes per year.
Manufactured by CA Building Products, SolarWall® is an innovative solar air heating system utilising the pTSC technology. Installed as an additional skin to the southerly elevation of the Academy, SolarWall® harnesses solar radiation to heat ambient air via a perforated collector. Solar heated air is drawn from the external surface of the collector, through the perforations, before being distributed into the building where it is used to offset the buildings heating load and provide the necessary building ventilation requirement.
Alongside this, Colorcoat Prisma® pre-finished steel was chosen for the additional skin of the SolarWall® for it’s smooth, modern appearance backed by the 25 year maintenance and inspection free Confidex® Guarantee. Colorcoat® facilitates a far more streamlined construction process due to its flexibility, durability and ease of handling, enabling disruption to be kept to an absolute minimum for the building occupants whilst work is being carried out. Furthermore, when used as part of an insulated refurbishment solution, Colorcoat Prisma® offers significant improvements in thermal efficiency due to the high thermal insulation of the fabric which, when combined with the reduction in CO2 provided by the installation of SolarWall®, results in a truly sustainable building being delivered.
As part of a company global environment policy, all Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships are being asked to consider the sustainability of their site operations and to take on board carbon reduction measures wherever possible. The successful delivery of the newly refurbished Academy has seen it held up as a showcase example providing a benchmark for what can be achieved with a sustainable, low carbon and economic building.
There are a number of energy efficient improvements that are cost-effective and can be made to existing commercial buildings. By applying these improvements, significant energy savings can be achieved as demonstrated at Warwick with the Jaguar Land Rover Academy. Refurbishing a building to current market standards achieves significant initial CO2 savings. Limited expenditure can reduce overall emissions by almost half enabling landlords and tenants to support a programme of more sustainable property occupation and management.
