Wilmcote House shortlisted for TWO Constructing Excellence Awards

ECD Architects is pleased to announce that our Wilmcote House retrofit project for Portsmouth City Council has been shortlisted for the Constructing Excellence Awards in both the Sustainability and Value categories.

Wilmcote House was originally constructed as a concrete prefabricated structure in 1968 using a large panel ‘Bison REEMA’ variant system. It consists of three 11-storey linked residential blocks which provide much needed affordable housing for Portsmouth City Council. With no place to relocate the residents within these 107 units, the Council commissioned ECD for the building’s regeneration to be achieved with the residents in occupation. The retrofit of the building has been designed to the principles of the stringent EnerPHit standard, the retrofit equivalent to Passivhaus. This standard will reduce annual heating and hot water costs by approximately 90%, saving around £750 per dwelling per annum in energy bills. The completed scheme is a state-of-the-art retrofit and regeneration project with use of the EnerPHit principles bringing it to the forefront of achievement in the area of high rise residential refurbishment and regeneration.

Constructing Excellence is a platform for industry improvement to deliver excellence for clients, industry and users through collaborative working. The Constructing Excellence Sustainability category recognises projects which meet present day needs for housing, working environments and infrastructure without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs in times to come. These projects deliver economic efficiency, environmental performance and social responsibility – and are most effective when organisational culture, architectural quality, technical innovation and transferability are abundant. The Constructing Excellence Value category recognises projects which have focused on the value of facilities in use and the outcomes for owners and users. These projects demonstrate how whole life cost and value have been considered from the outset; combining capital costs of construction with maintenance, operational and occupiers’ costs.

Loreana Padron, Head of Sustainability at ECD commented upon the success of Wilmcote House: “We are delighted with the continued achievements of Wilmcote House. This has been an incredibly challenging yet incredibly rewarding project for all involved. The design solution of retrofitting the homes to the Passivhaus EnerPhit standard is already improving the wellbeing of residents and reducing home energy usage. This transformation envisaged within our original design has been achieved through the hard work and determination of all involved but especially Portsmouth City Council. Regeneration with residents in-situ can be a complicated process but the results at Wilmcote House demonstrate the outstanding benefits that can be achieved. This has been a truly collaborative project involving the Council, the multi-disciplinary team – Keegans (quantity surveyors, principal designers and project managers), Wilde Carter Clack (structural engineers) and the contractor Keepmoat/Engie as well as outside research bodies including Southampton University and the LSE.”

Winners are to be announced at the Royal Lancaster London awards ceremony on 28 June .