Centre awarded ‘excellent’ environmental standard

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Work continues on the Pool Innovation Centre
Work continues on the Pool Innovation Centre

The £12 million Pool Innovation Centre has just been awarded one the UK’s highest environmental standards for a new building. Assessors working on behalf of BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) have rated Pool Innovation Centre as ‘excellent’ in recognition of its green credentials.

The building, which is under construction, has been designed to use 60% less energy than a traditional office of the same size.

The BREEAM standard covers many aspects of building construction and management and the Centre will incorporate some of the latest requirements for a sustainable building including how it contributes to the health and well-being of staff and a reduction in CO2 emissions from building operations.

The assessment looked at how energy will be produced and used in Pool Innovation Centre and how the builders have worked to be considerate of the site’s neighbours. It will have a biomass boiler, excellent insulation, passive ventilation to circulate fresh air and a window control system, which will all work together to ensure that the building uses natural heat and ventilation when possible to maintain a comfortable environment for people.

The construction of the building is also making use of many local subcontractors and materials with a company from Redruth responsible for the installation of the wiring, plumbing and building management system, whilst the groundworks, metal works and general building works have been undertaken by a number of companies from Liskeard. It will include British-grown cedar cladding and Delabole slate.

The Pool Innovation Centre has been developed by a partnership of Cornwall Council, Cornwall Development Company, the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) and CPR Regeneration, the urban regeneration company for Camborne, Pool and Redruth. The project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Convergence Programme and the RDA.

Councillor Carolyn Rule, Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration at Cornwall Council, said: “It is great to see the amount of careful thought that has gone into the development of this building. We will be appointing the company which will manage the centre soon and knowing that the building has been designed to such high environmental standards should help to attract the kind of start-up and growing businesses that we want to have as tenants within the Pool Innovation Centre.”

Sandra Rothwell, head of regeneration at the South West RDA in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “This is a great achievement and underlines the RDA’s commitment to lead the transition to a low carbon economy in our region. The Pool Innovation Centre is the first of three innovation centres that we are proposing in Cornwall to give our fledgling businesses the best possible start in life and we look forward to it opening next summer.”

Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “European Convergence seeks to ensure that all new buildings it funds achieve ‘excellent’ in the BREEAM standard. It is encouraging to see that the Pool Innovation Centre is fulfilling these challenging criteria. The environmental impact of the use of this new building by businesses both now and into the future will be less than that for conventional buildings.”

Nigel Tipple, Chief Executive of CPR Regeneration, said: “This building shows the kinds of high environmental and design standards that we are seeking to promote in all developments that are planned for the area and we look forward to seeing it open for business next year.”

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