The Enterprise Centre at the University of East Anglia (UEA), which houses a mix of academic teaching and enterprise functions, designed by architects Architype, BDP Engineers and Churchman Landscape Architects, has received planning permission.
It has been designed to become the first commercial building to achieve both the Passivhaus and BREEAM Outstanding standards. Being delivered by UEA’s Adapt Low Carbon Group and constructed by Morgan Sindall, the scheme also aspires to set radical new standards in terms of embodied energy and the use of materials from renewable sources.
The bold, crisp and contemporary design has been conceived as a more ecological interpretation of UEA’s fine architectural legacy, with the concrete of Lasdun and hi-tech of Foster making way for a timber and glulam framed building. It will also feature a locally sourced Brettstapel constructed lecture theatre and striking prefabricated Norfolk straw and reed cladding panels.
Forming part of Architype and Churchman Landscape Architect’s larger masterplan for the area, the new Enterprise Centre will serve as the interface between the historic Earlham Hall, park and university campus. This new exemplary building signifies the start of the wider vision and developments; namely a further 5700sqm of enterprise and academic accommodation, which was also granted outline planning permission by Norwich City Council.
Ben Humphries, Associate Director from Architype and lead designer for the project added: "We are delighted that Norwich City Council has granted planning permission for this exciting and innovative piece of architecture. The building provides the campus with a fantastic new gateway building, and proudly announces the university’s intent to lead the way in low carbon innovation."
The project is the latest in a line of Passivhaus developments happening in Norwich and the surrounding region including Hastoe Housing’s completed housing scheme in Ditchingham, Broadland Housing’s scheme on site in Fulmodeston, and Broadland’s ambitious 250 unit Carrow Rd development in Norwich which secured outline planning permission earlier this year.
This landmark project is part-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, in addition to funding from UEA, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBRSC), Norwich Research Park (NRP) and Building Research Establishment (BRE).
Enterprise Centre Project Director, John French, hopes the building will be a beacon of sustainability and inspire similar developments locally, nationally and potentially around the world. He said: “It will be a huge benefit to the local economy and to our reputation as a green capital.” The project, as part of the ERDF funding, is being disseminated by Adapt’s Centre for the Built Environment (CBE), via workshops and webinars to East of England SMEs as free business support to assist the region’s economy.
The Enterprise Centre, part of the Norwich Research Park, will go on to site in the summer and aims to open its doors in January 2015.