University of Birmingham Molecular Sciences Building

CWM Project

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Spanning over 11,230 sqft of land on the former old Munrow Sports Centre in Edgbaston, the Molecular Sciences Building is the first phase of the Universities wider £500m development programme. The building will enhance the University’s research ability in the chemical, environmental and biomolecular sciences, encouraging an environment for world class research.

The facility, which was designed by Associated Architects, comprises a mixture of specialist laboratory spaces, offices, tutorial space, collaborative spaces, and a new two-storey energy centre. The facility will also enable research to be undertaken on materials for energy applications or healthcare, making plastics recyclable, environmental effects of drugs in the ecosystem and the environmental impact of critical materials such as lithium.

The new building will maximise energy efficiency with a key focus on reducing Carbon including; the embodied carbon and overall carbon usage of the facility. The University of Birmingham required a low carbon building that met the BREEAM Excellent standard – a tough challenge considering the energy intensive use of the facility.

The use of CarboniCa – an intelligent carbon calculator tool that measures the whole life carbon usage – ensured we could achieve this. We also collaborated with sustainability specialists KLH to explore ways to reduce the carbon output of this project and to help validate our carbon savings generated from CarboniCa. Through the support of CarboniCa, KLH and various stakeholders, we saved over 350T of carbon which included replacement of metal ceiling tiles with plasterboard margins and changing from a pile foundation solution to a raft solution. Changing from the piled foundation option also generated a cost saving for the client of £170k whilst ensuring vibrations from the neighbouring train line would not travel into the building.