The UK’s first Passivhaus health centre has confirmed low energy use after its first year in operation.
Community Health Partnership‘s Foleshill Health Centre in Coventry was designed to use 26,120kWh and in its first year (Aug 21-Jul 22) the actual consumption was 26,291kWh, this equates to 42kWh/m2 GIA. This is just 22% of a traditionally constructed building regulation compliant building. This performance becomes more relevant particularly when the cost of energy is considered, with a saving of close to £2m by year 15 and over £6m by year 25.
The annual saving in energy cost for Foleshill v traditional building is over £50,000/annum and this is for a very small 619m2, 10,000 patient list health centre.
While this saving is driven in part by energy cost inflation a low energy building is not as severely impacted by inflation as a traditionally constructed facility, due to significantly improved thermal performance and air tightness. This impact could be reduced further by additional onsite electricity generation. The Foleshill delivery team are exploring this option since there is enough roof space to accommodate additional photovoltaic panels.
The health centre was built from 14 specially designed Portakabin modules in only 10 months during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21. This was 30% quicker than a traditional health care building construction. The GP surgery has two storeys, five consulting rooms, two treatment rooms, offices, a reception and a waiting area. The health centre was built on a small brownfield site; the location of a former council swimming pool that closed in 2013.
This is the first time that NHS England has approved this type of energy efficient Passivhaus building for the NHS. CHP chose the Passivhaus approach because of its overall sustainability ethos with low running costs, ultra energy efficiency, and health benefits.
Building features:
- The building is highly insulated, so it’s warm in winter and cool in summer. There is a small heating system using air source mechanical heat recovery pumps connected to small radiators.
- The insulation exceeds the building regulation fabric insulation values by about 40%. The building is very airtight – the leakage rate roughly equates to a hole the size of a golf ball across the whole building.
- Fresh air is circulated 24/7. All rooms have 100% fresh air from ducts in the ceiling, supplied from ventilation that recovers heat from stale air leaving the building via the mechanical heat recovery unit.
- Foleshill’s energy efficient features include triple-glazed windows, which can be opened if required.
- The windows have brise soleil shading that breaks up the sun’s rays to reduce direct summer sunshine entering the building contributing to the comfortable internal summer temperatures. When recent summer external temperatures neared 40 Celsius, the internal temperature whilst elevated remained comfortable for users.
- Photovoltaic panels on the roof provide electricity and there are no fossil fuels on site.
- All the lighting is provided by energy efficient LED lamps.
It includes costs for:
- Capital and Renewal costs
- Operations
- Maintenance
