Materials
Sustainable building materials
Whether undertaking a new build project or a refurbishment of any size there is an increasing range of low carbon building products and services that can be easily uncovered with a little research. As the market expands there will be more competition and opportunities to 'shop around'. The net can be a very good place to start. So to get you thinking we have included a number of websites. Please note we do not necessarily endorse or promote in any way any of the products or service on these websites but have included them as a way to start off your search for stainable building materials and services.
Glulam Timber – a low carbon building material
Glulam is a glue-laminated structural timber product that has replaced steel in a large part of the EPIC Building.
The timber for glulam is Eastern European softwood produced from sustainably managed forests. Unfortunately the damp, mild maritime climate in Britain cannot produce the tough, fibrous, slow growing timber required for the glulam process. The planting and harvesting cycle in the production forests ensures a biodiverse forest that that maximises the absorption of CO2. This carbon can then be incorporated into the structure of a building such as the main exhibition hallls of the EPIC building.
Using steel for an equivalent steel frame could have required up to six times the amount of energy for its production compared to this glulam frame. Glulam framing is usually lighter than equivalent concrete or steel frames thus reducing the load and size of foundations – again reducing the high energy concrete foundations elements of a building.
Within the EPIC building each glulam roof beam is 22m long and weighs 7.5 tonnes.
Woodwool Building
Woodwool building boards and slabs are produced in Europe as a by product of other timber production processes. The wool is bonded with magnasite or a small proportion of cement. The main centre for woodwool production is in Austria (See www.herklith.com) although those used in EPIC were sourced from Northern Italy via a supplier in Wales (See pdf below). Most good quality building suppliers are now familiar with woodwool boards. Boards and slabs can be obtained in a variety of thicknesses, widths and lengths and can be used for many internal and external applications.
How we buried EPIC
The EPIC Centre can claim to be one of the largest partly earth sheltered buildings in Europe. The whole of the northern aspect is buried up to the first floor by a limestone and earth embankment. Originally with a sloping profile, as shown in this picture, the bank is now undergoing modification to provide additional space for event marquees and public gatherings. Sheltering a building in this way can help to reduce energy consumption through moderating temperature fluctuations. Specialist bank stabilisation techniques were employed in this bank to reduce any weight loading on the EPIC building and thus minimise the use of concrete reinforcement of the north wall. Smaller earth sheltered building are more often designed to directly withstand the extra weight (See for example www.hockertonhousingproject.org)
