Submitted By:

Sedat Soylemez

ID No: 04009592

Submitted to:

Mr. David Brooks

Module: Introduction to

Construction, Assignment 3

17th December 2010

The need to move towards more sustainable

architectural design is recognised over the

years as such built environment has a major

impact on the security and quality of all of our

lives as well as a massive impact on the

national and local economy. Shorne Park is a

showcase project that is built to inspire and

pioneer sustainable architecture but it has

many impractical features and facilities that

cannot be easily adapted to any ordinary

construction.

SUSTAINABLE

ARCHITECTURE

&

SHORNE WOOD

COUNTRY PARK

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 2

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This report would not have been possible without the ongoing guidance and support

provided by the Faculty of Design and Construction lecturer, Mr. David Brooks. I would

like to thank him for his priceless contributions. I would like to thank to, Lee-Evans

Partnership for providing the technical data of the project.

My special thanks go to Ms Sarah Belsey, customer service manager at Shorne Park.

She has been incredibly helpful and I could not complete the report at this level

without her help.

2. CONTENTS

Title Page

1. Acknowledgement

2. Contents

3. Abstract

4. Introduction

5. Towards a sustainable design

6. Sustainable design

7. Shorne Wood Country Park

7.1. Construction

7.2. Features

7.3. Management

8. Methodology

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 3

9. Results

10. Conclusion

11. Recommendations

12. References

3. ABSTRACT

This report aims at looking at sustainability from a different point of view; common

sense and enthusiasm. It provides brief information about the history of architecture

and its purpose as buildings have been a fundamental issue for people to maintain

their lives within a safe, comfortable environment. There have many different stages in

the history of the architecture as a result of the changes in availability of resources,

skills and affordability.

People are now more conscientious about the future of the planet and this has a raised

some concerns on the architectural designs and the materials used for buildings.

Shorne Park is built to demonstrate how to contribute to the sustainability in

construction industry. This report confirms that purpose of the project and the

practicality of its many features to adapt to ordinary construction are limited.

4. INTRODUCTION

We all think about finding more energy efficient ways to bring down the housing cost

or ideally, without a cost. This can be achieved either without using too much of the

resources or where possible, having resources recycled and reusable for something

else. Simple steps like when buying home appliances checking their energy efficiency

rating, using appropriate rubbish bags for recyclable items (paper, glass etc.),

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 4

switching off the office lights or even switching off the heating of the classrooms before

going home. But the amount of resources that actually go into a construction project to

provide an acceptable living standard and to meet the high demand for new buildings

as a result of increasing population can have massive impact upon the environment.

Architecture of sustainable buildings is becoming more and more important and in

demand. Architects and construction companies are expected and encouraged to

critically look at every steps of building methods or materials used in traditional

construction in order to achieve the most eco-friendly ways to get buildings made. It is

equally important that such buildings are cost effective to build and can set good

examples of practices that can be adaptable to buildings in general.

5. TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Architecture is the process as well as the product of planning, designing and

constructing buildings. It requires a creative combination of the materials and

technology. It also looks at the pragmatic aspects of buildings i.e. maintenance and

their structures.

The earliest surviving written work about building architecture, De architectura, by

the Roman architect Vitruvius clearly stated the function and the purpose of a good

building as to satisfy the three principles (Rowland, I. D.–Howe, T.N, 1999):

Durability - it should stand up robustly and remain in good condition.

Utility - it should be useful and function well for the people using it.

Beauty - it should delight people and raise their spirits.

People historically maintained their basic needs i.e. shelter, security, worship etc. by

using the available materials and skills to provide buildings. Early settlements were

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mostly rural. People started an urbanised living with the improvement of skills and

technology over the years as it raised the production of materials available locally.

With the increase of the building knowledge and materials, architecture and

engineering began to separate. The architect interested on aesthetics and the humanist

aspects, often at the expense of technical aspects of building design. The industrial

revolution started the mass production and consumption. Aesthetics became more

common for the middle class as the products that were too expensive to have, become

cheaper and widely available.

As the buildings began to be more complex with construction systems, services, and

technologies, architecture become a multi-disciplinary science. Architecture began to

be more specialized as the 'design' architecture and the 'project' architecture.

Architects raised concerns for the environmental sustainability and soughed to meet

sustainable principles in their projects. Vernacular architecture inspired for

environmentally sustainable methods as the construction would use the locally

available resources to meet the needs. This is the main reason for the sweet chestnuts

being used for Shorne Park.

6. SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

Sustainable building design can be achieved by considering the social, economic and

environmental sustainability in the projects. The aim is to minimise the adverse impact

on environment. This requires setting up targets to challenge the global warming,

increase in population, environmental damage. Some common sustainable design

principles:

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Choosing sustainably produced or recycled materials which require little

energy to process

Choosing longer-lasting and better-functioning products will reduce the

impacts of producing replacements

Designing for reuse and recycling

Designing impact measures for carbon footprint.

Redesigning systems to enable the constant reuse of materials in continuous

closed cycles

Sustainable building design aims to create buildings that are not harmful to

their occupants or to the environment.

7. SHORNE WOOD COUNTRY PARK

Shorne Wood visitor centre is designed as a self sufficient, eco-friendly architecture to

inspire and increase sustainability awareness of visitors, professionals, potential home

buyers or developers so that they can make a positive difference in their environment.

Where possible all materials used are from sustainable sources and ‘local’. Using the

local building materials (sweet chestnut) is also a requirement / principal of building

within a conservation area that is to match the building with the environment.

A Conservation Area is defined in the Planning (Listed Building and Conservation

Areas) Act 1990 as: an area of special architectural or historic interest the character or

appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance.

The character of these areas is defined not only by a concentration of historic

buildings, but also by the relationship these buildings have with each other, historic

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patterns, the materials used in construction, parks and greens, and even street

furniture. Conservation Area designation is a way of protecting architectural or

historical characteristics and assures additional controls to help preserve the area.

7.1. Construction:

For the first time in the UK Sweet Chestnut glulaminate timber beams were used

throughout the construction of Shorn Wood visitor centre. There was insufficient

published data available for engineers to calculate dimensions and connection details.

This brought some arguments over the development of construction techniques.

Firstly sweet chestnut is normally used for cladding purposes and not naturally suited

to structural use. The architecture company overcome this by selecting small pieces of

timber and finger jointing them to form larger composite sections. Then the

manufacture of sweet chestnut glulaminated beams made several beams for BRE

testing. The result from these successful tests were then enabled the engineers to

make the necessary designs. Second argument was over the concept of the structure

which required the reflection of the local area’s historic shipbuilding tradition but to

allow the building volume to undulate reflecting the landscapes of Kentish downs

within the limited height of a Kentish cruck framed barn. The main constraint was

Inwood’s jig which could only produce beams 7m long. However, this restraint turned

into an advantage. Thirty two identically curved glulaminated sweet chestnut beams

were designed and pairs of beams connected together, in a similar way to the ‘hinge’

on a pair of scissors. It was then possible to open and close the cruck beams thereby

increasing and decreasing the ridge height of the building, and by extension,

decreasing and increasing the width of the building.

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Where possible recycled materials are used at the construction stage for example the

recycled glass under the paving slabs and recycled road planning’s to surface the car

park.

7.2. Feature:

The centre uses locally sourced sweet chestnut. Other eco features include a 15kW

wind turbine, solar thermal panels, photovoltaic (PV panels), harvested rainwater, bio-

mass heating, a sewage Klargester (waste water treatment system), PIR lighting, spray

taps, waterless urinals, recycling and composting facilities.

The wind turbine is made by Proven and can generate up to 15kW of power, around

80% of energy need. It is 13m tall to the height of the hub rather than the tip of the

blade, ideally Kent County Council (KCC) would have purchased one 10m taller which

would have generated significantly more power and at times would have made Shorne

Park self sufficient, however, this was not allowed due to the planning constraints as

the park is situated within the North Downs AONB. The turbine doesn't feed directly

into the centre, there is an import/export mechanism in place from the National Grid

so any power generated is sold back to the grid rather than coming into the centre

directly, this offsets the electricity bill as turbine is generating power for the national

grid and therefore make an income from it (around £1200 per year). The initial cost of

the turbine was £40,000 but was subsidised by a 50% grant from central government.

There have been issues with it mainly around several safety recalls from the

manufacturer which have resulted in it being switched off for almost 2 years. Shorne

Park is still awaiting the replacement of the hub and blades to resolve this problem and

then possibly may be up and running once again.

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The photo-voltaic cells generate electricity from the sun light and are integrated into

the roof structure and connected to the main LV supply. The 'array' of cells covers an

area of 40 square metres and produce up to 5000KW/hrs per year which amounts to

8.5% of energy required by the building and will save the release of 19,350kg of

carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. These cost £24,000 and also had a

government grant of 50%.

It is initially anticipated that combined, the wind turbine and PV cells will take 8 years

to pay for their installation.

Solar thermal there are 3 solar thermal hot water panels which maintain a heated

water supply of 285 litres for the building. In the summer there is an electric emersion

backup system but in winter, Shorne Park relies on boiler for hot water.

The rain water harvesting system consists of a 10 cubic metre storage tank under the

ground. This water is then used to flush toilets and also feeds a grey water tap. This is

to save the amount of mains water used and recycle the rain water that would

otherwise just soak into the ground. If there are periods of low rainfall then there is an

automatic mains backup system which ensures the underground rainwater harvesting

tank stays full.

The biomass boiler is a considered as a success story. It is a boiler with a 60KW output

that is fed by a 6 cubic metre hopper. Shorne Wood is 100% self sustainable for

heating and hot water in the winter and use all wood chips from the park to fuel it

through the winter. It will use an area of trees that would fill 2 football pitches each

year to provide heating and hot water for the building. The timber is cut and stored in

the round for approximately 1 year until it has seasoned; it is then chipped and stored

but also turned regularly to maintain moisture content of no more than 30%. This cost

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 10

£31,000 but also got 50% funding and attracted funding of £14,000 for the woodchip

storage buildings.

The bio digester sewage digester treats the toilet and sink waste on site, the waste is

broken down and then the water goes back into the ground water system through a

30m deep soakaway. The idea of this is that it cuts down on embedded energy of

transporting the waste off site to a treatment centre, it needs emptying once or twice

each year, so this is an improvement and reduction in vehicle emissions.

PIR (passive infra-red) lighting used in the toilets so the lights only go on when the

toilets are being used to save electricity, this is fairly commonplace now.

The taps are spray taps so they put more air into the water flow and therefore less

water is used. Press down taps are fitted as they are on a short timer function so turn

off after only a few seconds, therefore saving water. Another water saving device is the

waterless urinals which use gel cartridges to treat the waste and eliminate any odours.

Recycling bins are provided both inside and outside the park and this encourages

visitors to recycle as much as possible. There are also some compost bins to deal with

the leftover food waste from the cafe.

7.3. Management

Two part time visitor services managers take responsibility for managing the visitor

centre and associated services including events and conferences. In addition there is a

full time catering manager, assistant catering supervisor and various other contracted

staff who work in the café. There is a team of reception staff who work on the front

desk, managing the gift shop and answering phone queries. There is a daily

cleaner/caretaker for three hours a day, seven days a week specifically for the

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 11

building. On the wider site there are a team of Countryside Wardens who work seven

days a week, with the main bulk of hours on weekends, paying daily visits to the site to

litter pick, remove dog waste, enforce site rules and generally patrol the site and

inform the Rangers of any damage or issues

An annual revenue budget is provided by Kent County Council to fund the day to day

operations of the park. Due to pressures in the wider organisation this is not enough to

fund site services so staffs are expected to raise income to plug the gap.

8. METHODOLOGY

Architecture has been a fundamentally important subject for people to maintain their

very basic needs like shelter, protection etc, therefore the report briefly touched on the

history of architecture and mentions how architecture has developed over the years

and why it has been such an important issue for a sustainable environment. Report

then focuses on the Shorne Wood Country Park project and points the sustainable

features they have in place which have cost the local and central government

something around millions of pounds.

9. RESULTS

Report results that architectural designs have historically combined the best available

resources and skills to provide safe and comfortable buildings. Sustainability is an

important issue.

Shorne Park has many features that are hardly adaptable and practical for residential

construction therefore it contradicts with its original design purpose. The amount of

money, time and other resources spent on the ‘sweet chestnut timber frame’ which

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 12

were actually imported from Canada to build the visitor’s centre is not found any more

inspiring than any regular timber frame construction would.

The wind turbine which has not worked for many years and possibly rusting in the air

is hardly practical for domestic or even commercial buildings therefore ten thousands

of public money was simply wind in the air.

The photovoltaic panels are a great invention but would only work by storing the sun

light during day time. How much energy they can store, maintenance of them, the cost

to buy one and the practicality of insulation as it may cause some structural damage to

the roof if not installed properly, are just some of the aspects to need looking into.

The biomass boiler, in other word the wood burner is a kind of stove operated means

of heating which require extra storage space for wood, some staff to operate it, and

dealing with ashes, taking it away etc. Having this sort of heating system is almost

impossible for town residential, but ten thousands of the public money was spent on.

The maintenance and the workforce of this building is also another issue. The building

and operation cost of this building just to demonstrate some wind turbine and wood

burner without any return contradicts with the principles of sustainable architecture.

10. CONCLUSION

Buildings have provided facilities where people maintained their lives throughout the

history. The architecture of buildings has developed at the same time with the spread

of the knowledge, materials and techniques. The rural settlement of humans become

more urbanised with the increase in availability of the materials. The increase in

population required more houses and it has put a great impact upon the environment.

People become more concerned over the methods and the building materials used in a

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 13

traditional building construction. Sustainable architectures are built to inspire people

to make positive effect in their environment. Shorne Wood is a showcase project that is

to set an example with its many eco-friendly features. The project cost millions of

pounds public money to be built and requires many staff to maintain the centre. There

are some services to raise money to run the centre but they are hardly making any

money therefore staff are expected to raise money.

11. RECOMMENDATIONS

There is a need to review the construction techniques, materials to ensure that new

buildings are robust as well as energy efficient. Common sense in architectural designs

may overcome the challenges without a massive cost. Shorne Park cost a massive

amount of money to be built and regardless of the energy efficiency it may provide on

paper, the park still considerable amount of public money to run. A revision of the

design purpose and the real outcome of this building required to rectify the problems.

Sustainable Architecture & Shorne Wood Page 14

12. REFERENCES

www.kent.gov.uk/kentcountryparks [Accessed on 1st December 2010]

Rowland, I. D.–Howe, T.N.: Ten Books on Architecture, Vitruvius. Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge (1999)

Listed Building and Conservation Areas from www.legislation.gov.uk [Accessed

on 1st December 2010]

Patsalides, L. (2010), the history of green building, from brighthub.com

[Accessed on 1st December 2010]

Hart, L.S. (1994), Denver Service Centre, www.nps.gov/dsc/d_publications/d_1,

[Accessed on 2nd December 2010]

Morva, T. Types of building materials from www.ezinearticles.com/?Types-of-

Building-Materials [Accessed on 2nd December 2010]

www.cibseyoungmembers.co.uk/sixteenstoeighteens/building-services-

careers [Accessed on 2nd December 2010]