A technical seminar on sustainability staged by IHEEM’s Yorkshire branch was among the first showcasing opportunities for the Bradford Royal Infirmary’s new Sovereign Lecture Theatre (pictured).
Among the key points to emerge were the importance of early decision-making on sustainability elements within the construction process, the need to consider a building’s lifetime performance, and the fact that, currently, insufficient weight tends to be given to sustainability when clients and architects evaluate bids Mike Clegg, part of the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust estates and facilities team which designed and procured the impressive new lecture theatre, gave an overview of the new facility before the other presentations began. The internal structure is surrounded by a glass tube, which protects the wooden sphere inside from the external elements and allows passers-by to see inside. The facility is built into the gradient contours of the surrounding ground, allowing access from several different levels. Supported by the latest technologies, the theatre is linked to operating theatres by A/V technology, enabling operations to be viewed from inside the building. Other presentations examined part L2 A of the Building Regulations, covering carbon assessments of buildings, the use of thermal imaging when designing and building structures, the need for proper consideration of specifying alternative energy sources to save energy, and how procurement contracts can “take forward sustainability and carbon savings”.
