Brocks Hill Environment Centre

Brocks Hill Environment Centre is built as an exemplar building by Oadby and Wigston Borough Council. It was designed by Henderson Scott Architects in conjunction with the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development at De Montfort University.

The centre provides accommodation for an exhibition hall, classroom, offices and restaurant. The building uses a passive solar, super-insulated design and acts as a platform for a number of systems including a sun plenum which supplies warm air to adjoining spaces, flat plate solar collectors, a ventilated PV system and a 20kW wind turbine on a nearby hill.

Dense concrete block walls combined with quarry-tiled flooring provide thermal mass which is heated either directly (in the exhibition space) by high-level windows or indirectly through the sun space on the south elevation. Supplementary heating is provided by a 19kW dual-fuel Herz boiler supplying heat to a buffer tank whilst also contributing to the hot water supply.

Ventilation throughout the main heating period is provided by an air handling unit which channels external air through a heat exchanger before supplying the warmed air through ductwork to the various spaces. Extra cooling can be provided in the summer by the opening of wall louvers during night-time.