Background and Context

 

Type of project

 

New build. A proportion of the funding was part of the Scottish Funding Council's regeneration of FE estate funding. The College's existing Shettleston building was no longer fit for purpose.

 

The building was handed over to John Wheatley College on 12 March 2007.

 

Case Study tags: learning spaces, john wheatley college, scotland, new build, further education, new build 

 

What is it?

 

The College remains on more than one campus in order to meet the needs of a dispersed and 'territorial' community. The new build has been designed to enable local residents to take advantage of the employment opportunities that the Clyde Gateway initiative will bring to a community that has suffered significantly from the collapse of heavy industries and

the environmental blight which they caused.

 

The eco-friendly and sustainable nature of the design is currently unique in the sector and the campus will provide an eco-friendly amenity area for the local community and promote local biodiversity.

 

A partnership has been formed with Milnbank Housing Association who will build sustainable social housing on an adjacent site. The partnership with Milnbank will enable the Housing Association and the College to develop an environmental management system and, in the longer term, possible collaboration on a Sustainable Development Forum in the East End.

 

Sustainability and social inclusion were key drivers. The College was described as a 'college without walls' and its primary mission is to make education accessible to those who have missed out on more traditional routes and also to make an impact on local economic, social and physical regeneration. Greater emphasis is placed on the teaching relationship than on the actual physical environment in which teaching takes place.

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The building's intention is to be a radical statement of the potential of alternative and carbon-free energy sources in a public building and will set new standards for educational and other public buildings in Scotland.

The development is a new campus incorporating teaching space for a variety of subject areas, administrative functions, learning resources space and social space.

 

It encompasses energy efficient approaches to water supply, recycling, heating, ventilation and insulation. It will also be fully accessible for people with disabilities.

 

It is accessible via new bus, rail and cycle routes which will reduce the need for students and staff to bring cars into the area. A new railway halt is planned less than 100m from the building.

 

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The campus, which was built on a brownfield site, will have a landscape of natural meadowland to encourage the growth of indigenous plant species that require minimal intervention. This will provide an amenity area for the local community and promote biodiversity.

 

The campus is very much a community resource and local groups and individuals are encouraged to use the facilities. The library is run by the local council and this helps emphasise the accessibility of the College to non-students.

 

Finance

 

Funding Sources

 

The College received an award of £2.8 million from the European Regional Development Fund as well as contributions from the Scottish Funding Council (£7m), Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, Glasgow Community Planning Partnership and College resources. Glasgow City Council's East Area Committee has also contributed to the costs of the external landscaping by funding a sensory garden for students and College staff. The Robertson Trust and sustainability grants.

 

Cost of Project

 

Total project cost is £14.9 million with the building contract at £9.1m. Going for sustainability throughout has added c.8% to the cost of building. £700,000 was allocated to fitting out and furniture.

 

Technology

 

The use of appropriate technologies is essential to the sustainability of the campus. Such technologies include:

• Water harvesting technologies to recycle rainwater. The recycled rain water has produced the single biggest saving for the college since it opened the East End Campus. The water is harvested on the roof and runs along corrugated channels.
• Biomass boilers which are carbon neutral.
• High levels of insulation well in excess of those required by building regulation.
• Passive ventilation systems and design features to create an optimal learning environment. Windows in public areas automatically open when the indoor temperature reaches 21 degrees Celsius.
• An inflated roof which responds to internal temperature changes and creates shade in social areas. This particular type of ETFE (Ethylene TetrafluoroEthylene) roof is one the first to be installed in Scotland.
• Air source heat pumps capable of focusing the latent heat in the external environment to provide space heating in public areas.
• Single crystal photovoltaic cells on the south facing roof section and further photovoltaic cells laminated in to the ETFE roof sections on the west facing roof sections make a carbon-free contribution to the building's energy requirements. The photovoltaic panels have proved very successful at creating electricity. The system was installed with the understanding that it would take a suggested five years to recoup its costs but early indications are that it may take less time than that.
• Solar collectors mounted in the roof to provide heat for the domestic hot water system.
• High-frequency frequency lighting system with automatic controls and motion sensitive are used to control the level of lighting in each room (it automatically adjusts the lighting level to complement external lighting levels and has manual dimmer control). The lights switch off automatically when the room is not in use.

 

As regards the learning and teaching aspects:

• The whole campus is a wireless enabled environment and laptops are available on loan to users.
• A security system allows users to circulate within the building with laptops/books etc.
• Plasma screens provide information, including transport updates, for instance the local bus company is working on a system to notify the building when buses will arrive.
• Disabled students will have devices so they can be located in the three dimensional space in the building and helped in an emergency.
• PCs, Interactive White Boards and digital projectors are standard in all teaching areas. Many of the projectors are Unifi 35 SMART projectors, a tidy alternative to ceiling mounted projectors. The projectors were introduced in January 2007 and came directly from the USA to John Wheatley College.
• Hearing loops are provided in the space, they are permanently installed in part of the campus and there is also a mobile loop system available.
• A mobile fume extractor has been purchased. This has proved to be a very cost efficient response to a real need. It has been much cheaper to buy one mobile extractor than installing a fixed system in the required rooms.
• The training kitchen has a ventilated ceiling rather than a canopy - the first of its type in Scotland.

 

Adding Value

 

The ubiquity of technology in the space will be of particular benefit to a community of users who have a range of needs and experiences and who may not have the opportunity to interact with technology elsewhere.

Subjects taught include Construction and the College will be able to respond directly to some of the priorities outlined in the Scottish Executive Green Jobs strategy by training construction workers in sustainable technologies. It is also hoped the quality of the College facilities will encourage more women to enrol on construction courses.

The investment in sustainable technologies is expected to pay dividends in future and savings from water recycling are already apparent.

 

John Wheatley College has always been serious from the outset at achieving the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) 'Excellent' standard. Architects, engineers and builders with a similar vision were employed on the project. The BREEAM Excellent award has now been confirmed.

Sustainability should equate to longevity. The new campus has been designed for a lifespan of 60 years including 2 internal reconstructions. The College's Easterhouse campus originally had an expected lifespan of 30 years but this has now been raised to 47 years due to good maintenance.

 

Success Factors

 

What Makes The Space Successful?

 

The space is expected to deliver considerable benefits including exposing students, staff and members of the public to more eco-friendly working, living and learning practices and enhancing the College's already strong contribution to the regeneration of the local area.

 

Experts and users with particular needs and experiences have been included in the development stages. People with disabilities have advised on issues such as acoustic quality and the Carbon Trust and consultant ecologists have been involved in the design. The Energy Saving Trust has provided grant funding for some of the renewables.

Some of the furniture has been tailor made for the space - for instance the woodworking benches have been designed by John Wheatley College staff and produced by a furniture manufacturer. Flexible crescent shaped tables have also been designed and built locally especially for the campus.

 

The students at the campus have a sense of ownership of the facility and as a result there is a real level of respect for their surroundings. Food and drink are allowed throughout the space and there has been no major damage to fixtures and fittings as a result.

 

What Is Innovative About The Design And The Use Of The Space?

 

The eco-friendly and sustainable nature of the design is currently unique in the sector.

 

The College will introduce environmental management systems validated by ISO 14001 standards.

 

The building has a real sense of the outdoors and indoors meeting seamlessly especially with regard to features such as the sensory garden on the ground floor.

 

Top Tips

 

 

• Plan well ahead. The user brief for the building was prepared two years before the design of the building started.
• Involve all staff in the preparation of the user brief and the revisions during design stage. Groups of staff meeting directly with the architect worked very well.
• Have a defined management control system with only one person responsible for advising the design team and contractor.

 

Lessons Learned

 

Consideration was given to installing the College's own sewage system as a result of difficulties with obtaining a connection to public sewers. The system was not built but the College had to provide a £500k attenuation tank to mitigate the effects of its foul and surface water on the public sewers.

 

Original Geotechnical surveys were undertaken without the building footprint being known. This resulted in the necessity for further surveys at a later date.

 

The floor covering in the main open area on the ground floor is made of Chinese granite. This has proved to be very porous and marks easily. The initial sealant applied to them was not sufficient. The tiles have had to be cleaned and re-sealed within a few months of the building opening.

 

In this case there is almost nothing transferring from the College's Shettleston building and no legacy system transfer. This makes the relocation easier but places reliance of the installation of new technologies.

 

A small number of the projectors have had to be re-fitted due to unsatisfactory installation by the supplier but this has not been a major problem. This type of problem could reasonably be considered inevitable given the volume of IT installations in a short space of time involved in a project such as this.

 

Post Occupancy

 

Changes Made As A Result Of Feedback

 

The development of the East End campus has taken on board lessons learned from an earlier development at the Easterhouse Campus.

 

The previous building included demountable walls to increase flexibility of space configuration. It was found that they were not used in practice and allowed noise transmission so the new development is aiming to build in flexibility simply by having a range of different sized spaces with fixed walls.

 

External building colour will be derived from light sources rather than paint in the expectation that this will reduce vandalism.

 

Colour is being used as a means of tracking furniture since users tend to move a lot of furniture without returning it to its original location - this is very useful from an auditing perspective.

 

The College has also built on its success in using collaborative partnerships to raise funding and deliver better services to the community. The Easterhouse Campus development included a partnership with the local authority who built a multi-purpose facility including a library. The College and the Council library combined and is run by the Council and is used by the College and the public. The library provides a direct link between swimming and other recreation facilities and the College. Similarly at East End Campus the new library is library to which the public have access.

 

The College has made certain decisions based on observation of facilities elsewhere including separating social and work space for staff whilst bringing together social and library space for students. The anti-drumming roof - providing soundproofing from heavy rainfall was included in the development as a result of the experiences of other buildings in the sector where external noise had created a major impact.

 

Planning of storage space has been an important element of the development - particularly as the Easterhouse Campus did not provide as much as the College might have liked. Creative approaches to storage have emerged, an example of which can be seen in the Construction area where the mock chimney breasts in the painting skills area double as storage cupboards for stepladders and other equipment.

 

Other acoustic and soundproofing provision includes acoustic boards throughout the space to cut the levels of reverberation - feedback from hearing aid users has been very positive. All doors have acoustic seals that cut out all corridor noise.

 

In the staff preparation space the IT area has high desks and stools as well as lower tables and chairs. The high desks have proved not to be so popular with users and are about to be changed for lower versions.

 

Also in the staff area everyone works in an open plan space. Requests have been made for some desk dividers to provide more privacy. These will now be trialled in some areas to assess the impact.

 

Contact Details

 

Ian Graham, Principal: igraham@jwheatley.ac.uk
Alex Kirk, Depute Principal: akirk@jwheatley.ac.uk

 

Case study written July 2007.