Telford-based building and civil engineering contractors McPhillips (Wellington) have built the world’s “greenest” dog rescue centre in a cutting edge £5.25 million eco-friendly re-development for the Dogs Trust Shrewsbury. It opened earlier this month.
The centre has been completed on the site of the existing Canine Rehoming Centre at Roden, near Shrewsbury. It has been designed to be carbon neutral and is the first building of its kind designed to BREEAM Outstanding levels. Innovative energy saving features have reduced energy consumption by 70 per cent over a traditional rehoming facility and the centre has achieved an A+ rating for energy efficiency under the UK Building Regulations.
Designed by Shrewsbury based Peter Napier and Co, the centre has been constructed to give dogs a stress free environment while awaiting rehoming and has received a tail wagging approval rating from its new occupants.
The scheme is such a success that McPhillips and Peter Napier and Co. have been appointed by the Dogs Trust to build another Rehoming Centre in Loughborough with work just starting on the £7.1m project.
Dogs Trust Shrewsbury was completed in two phases to allow the centre to remain open and operational. The first phase from June to December 2010 demolished six buildings and upgraded kennels to temporarily accommodate the rehoming centre on the 14 acre site while the new 2,700sq metre centre was built in phase two and consists of a reception and rehoming building, intake kennels, training and behavioural centre and veterinary facilities.
Dogs Trust chief executive Clarissa Baldwin said: “We’re delighted with the work and skills we’ve been able to create an enriched environment for our dogs, offering them a high level of welfare. Ensuring our hounds are happy and healthy while waiting for a home is our main priority.”
Built using Passivhaus principles to ensure it is self-sustainable in its energy requirements, the centre uses bio-fuels to provide heating. Passivhaus is a method of construction which provides excellent thermal performance and airtightness, minimising heat waste, and as a result the centre requires very little artificial heating.
The timber frame was obtained from sustainable sources and is lined with a Proclima air membrane and voids are filled with Warmcell blown insulation to provide a thermal resistance considerably better than minimum building regulations (0.15W/sqm.K for walls compared to building regulations 0.35W/sqm.K). Air permeability is also significantly better than the existing regulations with a result of 2.4m³/(h.m²) @ 50 Pa compared to 10 m³/(h.m²) @ 50 Pa required by building regulations.
Lime mortar was used in place of cement for the walls to drastically reduce the embodied carbon associated with cement production.
