In 2011, CBG Consultants were engaged to provide services for the new build Dickson Poon University of Oxford China Centre Building, totaling £21M.
On Monday 8th September 2014, the building was officially opened by Prince William in a traditional Chinese ribbon cutting ceremony to symbolize the importance of the building.
Named after one of its’ successful sponsors Dickson Poon, the Building is an interdisciplinary research centre for all aspects of Chinese Culture, with 45 world class academics and high profile research projects, focused on diverse areas such as Chinese business, ancient history and art, global health, the environment and energy issues. The Dickson Poon University of Oxford China Centre Building provides 63 en-suite student bedrooms, a 100 seat lecture theatre, library with study carrels and reading rooms, dining area and a range of conference and seminar facilities. The work of the Centre will improve Western understanding of Chinese culture and contribution to society and provide opportunities for meaningful exchange with academics and scholars in Chinese universities and experts in this area from across the globe.
The ambition was to establish the most versatile and sustainable building services strategy, serving all occupants’ needs of this inspiring building. In addition to M&E consultancy, CBG prepared a detailed energy strategy that took all elements of the building into consideration to ensure that it exceeded the requirements of the Building Regulations and BREEAM and left the College with a low energy and low carbon legacy that was both cost efficient to run and provided minimal maintenance costs.
CBG pushed the boundaries of low U-values for walls, floors, ceilings and windows and these were transposed into the architectural design from the outset. Similar strategy was applied to the building air tightness which were set a very low value of <3. The building complies with ‘Accredited Construction Details’ (which assumes excellent Thermal Bridging) and thus the overall heat loss from the building is minimal. CBG used an IES dynamic simulation model to demonstrate the annual energy consumption savings and financial payback that could be made. The IES model was additionally used to demonstrate daylight controls for the lighting scheme which was especially effective for highly glazed communal areas of the building.
The Building achieved a BREEAM Very Good rating, harmonising its culturally inspiring purpose with its sustainable performance which many buildings of today strive to achieve.
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