Work will start shortly on the manufacture and installation of architectural glazing systems by leading UK extruders Kawneer UK on the world’s first Passivhaus leisure centre.
The systems – two types of curtain walling, three types of doors, windows and brise soleil – will be manufactured and installed by Kawneer-approved specialist sub-contractor AB Glass for main contractor Kier at St Sidwell’s Point in Exeter.
The 4,850m2 project will replace an ageing swimming pool, that was deemed difficult and costly to upgrade, with an eight-lane national/county-standard pool and four-lane learner pool, both with movable floors, together with dry sports facilities including a 150-station gym, café and crèche, and health and spa amenities.
Benefits of the Passivhaus design include a 70% saving on energy costs when compared to a current good practice pool, a 50% reduction in water use, outstanding internal water and air quality, excellent daylight levels and lower maintenance costs due to a high-quality building fabric.
Step up Kawneer’s Passivhaus-certified AA®100 capped curtain walling, which will be used around the building envelope and some locations internally, and RT®82HI windows which feature exceptional levels of thermal performance and airtightness, partly due to larger-than-normal thermal breaks.
These Passivhaus-certified products will be manufactured and installed by AB Glass alongside Kawneer’s AA®100FR and AA®720FR fire-rated curtain walling and doors as internal screens, AA®190TB external entrance doors, AA®720 standard and AA®720Hi doors internally and externally, and AA®130 brise soleil.
The flagship in Exeter City Council’s £330 million regenerating city centre masterplan, which also includes housing, offices, restaurants and retail, is expected to open to the public, alongside a new bus station, in 2021, and attract more than 500,000 visits a year.
Exeter City Council and Passivhaus designers Gale & Snowden architects have delivered several Passivhaus multi-unit housing schemes but this is the first commercial Passivhaus development they have embarked on together.
The hybrid construction comprises an in-situ concrete frame with aerated concrete blockwork infill and mineral wool batts on an insulated in-situ ground floor slab. The design also features a metal standing seam roof on CLT (Cross Laminated Timber) and glulam beam structure and a liquid-applied warm roof on a steel frame structure.
The Passivhaus Institute is acting as Passivhaus certifier and modelling the design in a bespoke multi-zone PHPP (Passive House Planning Package). As such, the energy performance figures are different to standard Passivhaus calculations due to the high pool and changing area temperatures.
Alan Brayley, managing director of AB Glass, who will have a team of up to 30 on the project for an estimated 30 weeks, said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded this prestigious one-of-a-kind contract.”