Wales Institute of Sustainable Education

Foundations are being laid for the groundbreaking Wales Institute of Sustainable Education at the Centre for Alternative Technology.

At the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), foundations are being laid for the groundbreaking £6.1million Wales Institute of Sustainable Education (WISE).

The architects' design includes a circular 200-seat lecture theatre with 7.2m high rammed earth walls - the tallest rammed earth structure in the UK.

Architects Pat Borer and David Lea designed the revolutionary new mini-university to CAT's exacting environmental standards.

These principles include ultra-low energy and CO2 emissions in construction and use, non-toxic, natural materials, and integrated energy generation.

"WISE will be an evolution of all the buildings at CAT," Pat Borer, who has worked with CAT for 30 years, said.

"We are taking all the best bits of what has been done before in environmental building, but on a much bigger scale, and doing things which have never been done before.

We will use techniques commonly found in the building industry to demonstrate that these greener building methods can be used in the mainstream.

"It is very important to put our money where our mouth is," he said.

"When students come to WISE to learn about green building techniques and other environmental principles, we will also be able to use the building as an example of the best possible practice." It has been generously funded by a range of organisations and individuals including Objective 2 funding from the European Union, provided through the Welsh Assembly Government.

WISE's rammed earth lecture theatre will also use a hemp-lime mix for its 500mm super-thick insulation, which is also a first for a building of this size in Europe.

"We have tried to use materials with very low embodied energy - this means the energy used to make the materials," David Lea said.

Both rammed earth and hemp lime have very low embodied energy.

Cement, which produces a lot of CO2 in its manufacture, has been kept to a minimum.

Energy will also be saved when transporting materials, as they have been sourced as locally as possible - the earth for the walls is waste from a local quarry.

Timber for the huge supporting frame will come from sustainable, FSC certified forests - when possible from Wales.

Thick insulation, passive solar design and the high thermal mass of the earth walls to trap heat and the use of natural lighting and ventilation where possible will ensure that WISE uses very little energy when in use.

A woodchip-powered combined heat and power (CHP) plant will generate electricity and heat water for the whole CAT site.

The roof will also incorporate solar water heating.

Both architects have been working on the project since 2003.

Mr Lea added: "We are really glad to see this project take off.

It will be wonderful for CAT to have this facility to run more courses, and it will be great for Wales to have WISE here." CAT started planning WISE several years ago, as demand for all kinds of courses on environmental topics, including green building, organic gardening, sanitation and renewable energy, has exploded.

CAT has also started to run several professional courses for installers of alternative technology, and a residential MSc course called Architecture: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies with the University of East London.

The three-storey educational complex will also be used for school visits, and provide professional conference facilities.

Centring around a small courtyard, WISE will also incorporate 24 twin study bedrooms, roof terraces, a laboratory, library, seminar rooms, workshops, offices, a bar, an extended restaurant, and breakout/relaxation areas for teaching and study.

"We hope the spaces in the building will be very beautiful - we have given a lot of thought to different experiences of space as you move through," Lea said.

Although it made the design more complicated, they have rejected internal corridors, so every room has at least one window with a view.

Borer has worked at CAT since 1976, and has designed many of the buildings at the eco-centre.

Lea has collaborated with Borer on all major projects since they worked together on the stations for CAT's Cliff Railway in 1991.

CAT's Information Centre and Shop, opened in 2000, is still Britain's greenest public building, and won the National Eisteddfod Gold Medal for its environmental credentials.

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