The Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies’ £5.5m facility is located at the centre of Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) ‘Creative Quarter’. The innovative seven-storey new build draws on the surrounding industrial heritage and delivers a vibrant contemporary aesthetic. As the Confetti Institute’s main site, the Hub provides media, film and theatre courses for students at both college and degree level. The scheme includes contemporary classrooms, a spacious Learning Resource Centre with private study facilities, computer laboratory and café.
Our team provided mechanical and electrical engineering services for this exceptional project, meeting NTU’s clear vision and key requirements for a low energy building. We achieved this through careful consideration of the building’s envelope, air tightness and engineering systems. Our team carried out a passive design report for the BREEAM assessment which included climate change adaptation methods.
We were able to highlight the benefit of using exposed thermal mass, night-time purge ventilation and demand-lead ventilation control techniques whilst mechanically cooling the internal areas. The design mixes these passive design methods with highly efficient mechanical heating and cooling systems. This produced an ‘A’ rated Energy Performance Certificated building and achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
The team’s collaborative fabric-first approach, on-site generation of electricity and heat recovery on all ventilation systems has produced a world-class teaching facility with an extremely low energy footprint. The scheme also includes a green nature roof to reduce stormwater run-off and provide a wildlife habitat.
This innovative project was shortlisted for regional RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) and RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) awards and won the East Midlands Bricks Awards ‘Sustainable Development of the Year’.
Client: Nottingham Trent University
Architect: Alan Joyce Architects
