William Birch celebrates high marks in Considerate Constructors Scheme

York construction company William Birch & Sons Ltd has been awarded 36.5 marks out of 40 under the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) for its work at the new £3 million Learning Centre and Library at Harlow Carr, Harrogate.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) intends the new building to be one of the greenest in the UK once opened in 2010, and the CCS mark is a significant achievement for this challenging project, with its very tight construction programme.

It crowns a number of recent celebrations at the site. Thursday 19 November saw the traditional topping-out ceremony take place, with the release of 100 biodegradable balloons, five of which contained golden tickets to the building’s grand opening in 2010. The CCS grading came just a few days earlier, up from a previous score of 35 out of 40, moving William Birch into the ‘exceptionally good site’ category. The site is aiming for an ‘excellent’ rating under the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and is William Birch’s sixth involvement with BREEAM rated sustainable development schemes.

For the RHS, Head of Estates David Alexander commented: “The CCS is an important element in helping us achieve our BREEAM score and we are delighted at this news. The Learning Centre is progressing well and will, in time, provide a wonderful, carbon neutral facility in which we can teach about 10,000 gardeners every year, young and old, the benefits of sustainable gardening.”

Designers at the site, Eco Arc Architects and Gifford, incorporated many aspects of green technology to meet RHS requirements. These include:
• Ground source heat pump
• Triple glazing (to Passivhaus principles)
• Sedum roof
• Water harvesting
• Solar panels
• Wind turbine
• Sun pipes
• Cement replacement concrete
• Clay blocks
• Natural ventilation
• Timber from sustainable sources, Forestry Stewardship Council accredited

William Birch is using local and regional specialists for many of the building’s unique features, such as the timber roof and the concrete structure, in line with RHS requirements. All foundations are now complete, as is internal and external brick and block work and reinforced concrete walls. The Glulam frame (ground and first floor), along with the timber roof structure for the main first floor roof, is now complete, allowing the sedum roof blanket and copper fascias to be recently installed. This means the project has achieved a key target of ‘closing-in’ the building before the Yorkshire winter does its worst. Internal work is progressing apace; underfloor heating pipework has been installed along with plastering to the first floor.

William Birch Construction Director Paul Goyea said the target date for completion was still on track, with work due to finish in Spring 2010.
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PHOTO CAPTIONS
Balloon release shot (045): Local primary schoolchildren send 100 balloons off to celebrate the topping out of RHS Harlow Carr's new Learning Centre.
Site shot (09-11-02 33): How the new Learning Centre at RHS Harlow Carr currently looks.