All systems go for Green Build Hub

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Work is set to get underway this summer on the landmark £1.4 million Green Build Hub building at the Eden Project.

The facility, which will mark the realisation of a long-held ambition for the Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust (CSBT), will be a ‘living laboratory’ where eco-building products will be installed and tested to produce comprehensive performance data in a real building setting.

South elevation of the Green Hub Building
South elevation of the Green Hub Building

Supported by £1.1 million of Convergence funding, the Green Build Hub will serve as a distinctive training centre, and encourage inward investment by companies such as specialist green suppliers, by enabling them to showcase and test innovative products within the building.

Paul Bright, CSBT’s chief executive, said: “The Green Build Hub has been a long awaited concept. UK and Europe continue to engage with new ways of using sustainable building technology in construction and we want to position Cornwall as a hub of knowledge for sustainable innovations in building techniques.”

The two-storey building will sit in a prominent position adjacent to the ‘Pineapple’ car park at The Eden Project.

CSBT has appointed Ward Williams Associates to lead its consultant team, while the design and build contract has been awarded to a team lead by local contractors Gilbert & Goode, including St Ives-based architects Poynton Bradbury Wynter Cole (PBWC).

Julian German, Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for economy and culture, added: “I hope the building will stimulate and support SMEs in the green build and renewable sectors nationally to engage with the innovation going on at the site.

“Coupled with the opportunity for new high level skills to be taught on site, this can only be a benefit to the wider area.”