TOPPING THINGS OFF AT TEMPLE FARM DEVELOPMENT
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Achieving the highest accolade, Eco Green Roofs Ltd’s green roof solution was installed at the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rated Temple Farm. An 85-acre rural site in Chelmsford, incorporating 112,500m² new build development carried out over a 5 year period and comprises offices, residential, healthcare buildings, an Energy Centre and home to the National headquarters for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain.
This project showcases the ability to obtain sustainable credentials in large new-build developments in line with industry leading sustainability assessment methods, such as BRE’s BREEAM and demonstrates the changing image of the construction industry in thinking about its impact on the environment.
Historically, the Temple Farm site was of significant environmental importance to the local area. Areas of the site were classified as Green Belt land and featured a number of valuable ecological assets, including ancient hedgerows and veteran trees. The project team wanted the site to retain these features and natural character, which was a driving force behind the specification of green roofs across the roof estate.
Specifying a green roofing system at the Temple Farm development has allowed the project team to secure another environmentally friendly component that can contribute to the building’s performance. The project has been expertly installed with a solution that lives and breathes within the environment in which it exists. Thanks to the green roof, the site has had a net gain in ecological biodiversity achieved through the implementation of an Ecology Strategy and Landscape & Ecological Management Plan. Eco Green Roofs supplied and installed the biodiverse green roofing system on top of the installed waterproofing membrane by Contour Roofing.
The system was also designed to improve not only the building’s aesthetic appeal and boost levels of flora and fauna in the local area but improve its performance. The green roof solution contributes to insulating the building, minimising heating bills for the occupant with less reliance on electricity and/or gas. The sedum blanket system used improves insulation by trapping the heat that usually escapes through the roof. Furthermore, the green roof actively helps with the storage of storm water, that can be particularly strong during winter periods retaining up to 85% of the water. This can help the prevention of flooding in the area, particularly important when building on green land. The combination of the substrate, sedum and air also acts as a sound insulator.
The green roof solution was installed above the five residential blocks and two smaller buildings of the development, to which contributed to the project achieving an ‘Outstanding’ BREEAM rating and a 0.10 U-value.
Other aspects on the project that supported its sustainable offering was utilising brown land. Redeveloping on this type of land sees benefits including an improvement of aesthetics, reflected on the local area and the employment of a workforce for commercial-use buildings. It also creates a safer and healthier space and can be cheaper due to vital infrastructure already being in place in such as drainage, electricity and roads.
BREEAM said Temple Farm ‘Aims to knowledge share and showcase all the new and existing technologies and design solutions that were employed to develop a heavily contaminated yet ecologically valuable piece of land outstandingly. Temple Farm can be called the realisation of the aims and objectives of the BREEAM Communities scheme, as not only does it meets the planning conditions and regulations of Chelmsford City Council, but it also pushes boundaries, and encourages innovative sustainable design and creates a community.’
(Source: BRE – BREEAM TEMPLE FARM, CHELMSFORD)
Contact:
Eco Green Roofs Ltd
E: info@egr.co.uk
T: 01277 355705
W: www.egr.co.uk
A: Unit 3, Rays Farm Barns, Ingatestone, CM4 9EH
