Posted: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 11:03 am

Fraser Brown MacKenna Architects has won the Sustainable Construction and Refurbishment category of the Green Gown Awards 2011 for the recladding of the GE Fogg Building at Queen Mary, University of London. The award was presented during a ceremony at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London on 3rd November.

Once uneconomic to heat and suffering from extreme solar glare, the concrete structure of the building was corroded and the windows were leaking. Working closely with staff at Queen Mary University of London, MEP Engineers Mott Macdonald, Cost Consultants Burnley Wilson Fish and main contractor Charter Construction, the architects developed a three-fold solution for the sustainable retrofit of the building

• to increase the insulation of the existing opaque walls.

• to install new high performance glazing throughout.

• to include monocrystalline PV cells on parts of the south and south-east facing elevations and sloped roofs.

The GE Fogg Building houses the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and remained in occupation throughout the duration of the project. Working closely with building occupiers, the team overcame the logistical challenges of working around live laboratories and a building which bridges a public highway, installing 4,600sqm of rainscreen cladding and curtain walling across the complex building geometry. The result is improved user comfort, a reduction in solar gain of 20% and an annual CO2 reduction of 6.0kg/CO2/sqm. We have extended the life of the building for a fraction of the cost of rebuild and provided the School with a striking new identity. The project has demonstrated that the sustainable refurbishment of even the most complex mixed use academic buildings is affordable.

The Green Gown Award judges called the project an excellent all round entry which managed to take occupier comfort into consideration while simultaneously transforming an operational building. Improvements will not only extend the life of the structure but will also result in a high energy demand reduction of 70 per cent and similar improvements in u-values.

Now in their seventh year, the Green Gown Awards recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the UK. With sustainability moving up the agenda, the Awards have become established as the most prestigious recognition of best practice within the further and higher education sector.