Location - Shotton, UK
Sector - Commercial
System Manufacturer - Building Systems UK
Environment - Inland
Client - Tata Steel
Building User -  Tata Steel
Architect - Welsh School of Architecture
M&E Contractor - Kimpton Building Systems
Cladding Contractor -  Lester Fabrications
System Manufacturer -  Tata Steel
 

Tata Steel Products -  Colorcoat Renew SC® active solar air heating system manufactured from Colorcoat Prisma® pre-finished steel in Matt Anthracite, ComFlor® 60 composite floor decking with Comflor® Active heating and cooling system.  Roof and walls - Colorcoat Prisma® and Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra®
Colour Roof - Colorcoat Prisma® Anthracite
Colour Walls - Colorcoat Prisma® Matt Anthracite, Linden Green, Silver Metallic.
Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® - Aztec Yellow, Chili, Poppy Red, White, Honesty, Sargasso, Ocean Blue, Tangerine, Black, Solent Blue, Heritage Green.

Year - 2011

The Sustainable Building Envelope Centre (SBEC) is a research centre co-funded by Tata Steel, the Low Carbon Research Institute and Welsh Government focussing on accelerating the development of low carbon solutions for the built environment. The centre is being used to test and monitor new integrated heating, energy and ventilation systems on the fabric of the building. These include energy generation through active solar collectors and photovoltaics, energy storage through composite roof and wall media, and using phase change material to maintain constant temperature levels.

The challenge

As the aim for the building was to be used as a test bed to assess the efficiency of new integrated heating, energy and ventilation systems on the fabric of the building, it needed to incorporate a wide range of sustainable technology concepts in its construction that had the ability to be linked to monitoring equipment to assess the impact of system changes.

The solution

A number of renewable energy solutions were incorporated into the SBEC building, these include Colorcoat Renew SC®, an active solar air heating system along with other technologies, such as heat pumps, and ComFlor® Active, a composite flooring system that incorporates under-floor heating and phase change material. The research project made it possible for the system integration and control strategy design to optimise renewable energy performance through the Building Management System.

The use of Colorcoat Renew SC® helped provide a cladding system that is durable and sustainable, as well as incorporating a technology which will significantly reduce the energy outlay of the building. The building's southerly facing external wall has been clad with 1795m2 of Colorcoat Prisma® pre-finished steel which includes 95m2 of solar collector in Matt Anthracite that will provide heat to the workshop and 62m2 of solar collector manufactured in Linden Green on the façade of the building to heat the office accommodation.

The Colorcoat Renew SC® system provides a highly efficient source of renewable energy which will significantly reduce the energy costs to heat the building. With up to 75% efficiency converting solar radiation to usable heat energy, the system installed at SBEC has the potential to produce up to 39MWh per year.

SBEC also features ComFlor® 60 Active, a composite floor decking that is providing active heating and cooling to the building. By using ComFlor® 60 Active the room temperature of the building can be controlled without heavy reliance on carbon intensive fuels. The system allows cool or warm water to circulate through a network of waterpipes embedded into the concrete to thermally activate the floor, providing a highly effective cooling and heating method for the structure.