Cadbury College Science City

Our team was commissioned by Sandwell College to refurbish and expand the existing classrooms to reflect modern teaching methods and the College’s new enhanced curriculum.

The project was split into two phases, which involved the refurbishment of the East and South Block. The East Block was upgraded to provide a state-of-the-art engineering lab, and the South Block upgraded to offer new technical qualifications to enhance the College’s science curriculum.

A further phase was to provide a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) building which promotes Digital Technology and Learning. The building also accommodates new food hospitality training courses with new culinary kitchens and a large open-plan restaurant and bar.

The design for the new STEM building incorporates a fabric-first approach to provide a highly insulated building that utilises hybrid ventilation systems to ventilate classrooms locally and an air-to-water heat pump for the heating system. The building is actively heated by circulating air through the hybrid system, which is then blown across the LTHW coil connected to the heating generated by the highly efficient air-to-water heat pump.

The building also includes a CO2 heat pump to generate hot water, a centralised BMS (Building Management System) interface to control the mechanical equipment, and 280 sqm of PV on the roof, generating 60kW of electricity. Overall these measures resulted in a carbon emissions reduction of 48% over and above Part L of the building regulations, saving 17.4 tonnes of carbon annually.