Medical Science Building earns Green Apple Award
An Estates initiative, delivered with Grundfos, to reduce emissions and save energy across the University has been recognised with a National Gold Green Apple Environment prize, in recognition of its hugely successful project at the Medical Science Building.
School of Medicine Technician and Building Officer, Mike Fearon, who worked closely with Estates and helped reduce energy costs in the building by over £10,000 a year, explained that the university has been a pilot for a variety of energy-saving initiatives as well as early detection of faults. Mike has been involved in these projects over the last few years and believes the initiatives will continue to produce awards over the next decade.
Some of the award-winning sustainability initiatives include:
- Non-Domestic Energy Efficiency (NDEE) programme, which includes LED lighting, replacing fan-driven motors to direct drive and the connection to the Biomass.
- Grundfos Machine Health Solution, detailed here, which helps with the early detection of faults and energy monitoring.
- Coppertree project. This project included the collection of data from all heating, ventilation & air conditioning (HVAC) systems as well as fume cupboard extracts. Energy was saved by changing the settings such that the systems shut down when not in use.
- Rainwater harvester: Many people may be unaware, but all the building’s toilets use greywater collected under the main deck area which is then pumped to the plant room and provides water to all 52 toilets and 21 urinals.
- Leak detection in Anatomy.
As the university improves on current achievement, there are more projects expected to be completed on the building in 2022 including freezer temperature monitoring and Legionella monitoring, piloting on level 3 of the building and starting in January.
This award highlights the importance of the Medical Sciences Building and the direction the University is moving towards being Net Zero by 2035.