Housing Associations and sustainable construction. Jenny Wain. Contents:
Gwalia on conserving heritage
- Swansea Foyer
Scheme summary
Swansea Foyer resulted from the redevelopment of the former Swansea Working Men’s Club. It provides training and accommodation for up to 33 homeless and young unemployed people.
Scheme details
The scheme was built as a result of a limited competition run by Gwalia.
A design brief was devised that would redevelop the site of the Working
Men’s Club, incorporating its listed 19th century façade,
to provide an energy efficient, environment friendly building. PCKO Architects
won the competition and were commissioned for the design of the building.
The resulting building meets the environmental goals and creates a building
that is free from any hint of institutional atmosphere. This has largely
been achieved through a design that converts the internal circulation
space into a covered street, bordered by a terrace of houses; each houses
4 – 5 residents. The street feature not only acts as an urban style
community space, but allows for natural light and passive solar gain.
The scheme also provides offices, meeting rooms and training facilities.
The overall design of the building is visually interesting and of a high
quality. The listed façade has also been fully restored.
Environmental features
A highly insulated timber framed building,
with a U value of 0.20 was constructed behind the listed façade.
All windows are timber-framed with argon filled low emissivity double-glazing.
The single glazed roof to the street acts as a passive solar collector,
a buffer to reduce heat loss and creates an attractive naturally lit and
ventilated communal space.
A proportion of the hot water requirements for the building are provided
by solar panels. Around 60% of domestic hot water requirements can be
met in this way. Photovoltaic panels provide solar electricity to drive
the water pumps from the solar collectors. They also power the electrical
and mechanical back up systems for the building and run the motors that
work the passive ventilation system.
Water conservation issues were addressed by fitting water saving devices
to taps and showers, along with 6 litre low flush WCs.
Low energy lighting to all parts of the building is controlled through
a card access system. This ensures lights are automatically switched off
when not in use.
Pre-construction dynamic thermal modelling and environmental simulation
of the foyer street was carried out by the Welsh School of Architecture
in Cardiff to ensure the success of the building.
The natural ventilation system is thermostatically controlled providing
fresh air throughout the building and acts as smoke ventilation to the
central street.
Costs
Following tendering and negotiation a contract sum of £1.381m2 was
agreed. Retention and repairs to the existing façade represented
£300,000 of the overall cost. The cost per resident/unit including
communal facilities is £41,848.
The scheme was funded by a number of sources. Tai Cymru (Housing for Wales)
gave a grant of almost £650,000, with the remainder being provided
by the City and Council of Swansea, the Tudor Trust, Welsh Development
Agency, CADW, SWALEC and other charitable donations.
Developers comments
Gwalia is pleased with the success of the development in terms of architectural quality, environmental performance and the quality of life offered to residents. The environmental design techniques used have helped to create a home that offers residents the best of the contemporary, along with the stability derived from the historic traditions of the building.
Further information
Architects: PCKO Architects www.pcko.co.ukDevelopers: Gwalia: www.gwalia.com
