Climate Innovation District, Leeds
CITU are dedicated to creating places that make it easy to live sustainably, with car-free streets and very low energy timber framed homes which are pre-constructed in their own dedicated factory. LEDA have been providing CITU with detailed design advice for many years starting with their early projects in Sheffield, and now in Leeds on their large mixed use scheme now known as the Climate Innovation District (CID).
LEDA have provided detailed M+E designs for the varied house types across the Leeds site, including 8 apartment types and 2, 3 and 4 bed homes.
The extremely low heating energy requirements have been facilitated with a ‘fabric first’ approach, with passive house levels of insulation and airtightness. The design required rigorous and careful calculations to avoid overheating, and provide the right mix of ventilation and heating without over-engineering. For simplicity and cost, the schemes are currently all electric with PV offsetting some of the additional cost resulting from using electricity for hot water, when compared with gas heating. We are constantly exploring new and alternative solutions with CITU that could further reduce energy demands and impact on the environment; We are currently trialling ASHP hot water cylinders, as hot water is the largest energy demand in the larger family homes.
We have used Revit exclusively for detailed 3D modelling and coordination at all stages of the project, working closely with the CITU inhouse design teams and external structural engineers and sharing Revit and IFC files for coordination and detailed design. As a result of this approach, CITU have been able to use the MEP schedules derived from our models for procurement, sending them directly to merchants and suppliers.
| Client: | CITU |
| Services Provided: | Full M & E Design, Sustainability & Renewables Advice |
| Dates: | April 2016 – Present |
| Contract Value: | Undisclosed (<£100 million total construction value) |
| Technologies and Unique Features | Photovoltaics, Smart Metering, BIM, MVHR, Lean Design |