The Island Quarter
A vibrant community and city hub designed to be net zero ready and aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2028.
The Nottingham-based site was previously derelict for 26 years and is now being redeveloped into The Island Quarter, which will provide new homes, grade-A office space, a five-star hotel, retail units, and student accommodation. Phase 1 will focus on regenerating the canal area and creating new food, beverage, and event spaces. Phase 1B also includes a hotel, restaurants, residential apartments, and a 100-meter-long forum for social gatherings.
One of the key challenges faced by the project team was managing the extension of an existing district heating system which already served as part of the site. In order to maximize both cost and efficiency, Introba carried out a specialist district heating appraisal to identify the capital cost, running cost, and long-term carbon emissions associated with the extension of the existing network in comparison with the creation of a standalone network, assuring that the correct decision was made.
By implementing a focused energy strategy and environmental design, the site will see predicted savings of up to 21% of regulated emissions. To become net zero-ready, the life cycle impact of materials has also been considered.
The boots Island site in central Nottingham between the canals and the railway lines is being redeveloped into a large mixed-use development known as the Island Quarter. The new community will be almost entirely new buildings and phased between now and 2030.
Nottingham is the UK’s leading city for Net Zero, targeting to be Net Zero as a city by 2028, and already has the largest district heat network in the UK, which generates energy from waste and serves many sites across the city.
Introba has been involved in discussions with stakeholders to help develop the site-wide energy strategy, looking at various energy options to identify the most efficient and sustainable way of providing energy to such a large site. And have also been appointed to work on the first phase of development.
The site-wide energy strategy
The agreed-upon energy strategy is called a 5th generation heating and cooling network, which consists of circulating water around the site at an ambient temperature. The ambient loop provides the development with an energy-sharing strategy, taking excess heating or cooling from buildings back into the loop while at the same time providing heating or cooling to buildings that require it. This mitigates many of the usual distribution losses from higher temperatures or long distances of a standard district energy system.
Introba has also created the Masterplan Energy Strategy Guidance document, which will guide design teams working on all future developments within the site.
Phase 1A – The Pavilion
The Pavilion will be a feature building for the new development. It consists of two restaurant and bar floors, a large events room, and a rooftop terrace.
Introba worked very closely with the design team to ensure that the integrity of the design features was upheld while reducing solar gains through innovative use of mesh shading, high-quality window glazing, and high-quality thermal envelope resulting in low U values.
Phase 1B – Mixed-Use Development
This project consists of two main buildings connected on the ground floor by a communal atrium with hospitality spaces, a gym, and a wellness spa. The south side tower contains co-working spaces and a 5-star hotel. The north side building is primarily residential apartments, a food hall, and other hospitality and retail outlets.
Further phases include university buildings, residential, retail outlets, commercial offices, and a creative market to re-purpose existing train garages.
Sustainability
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Net Zero-Ready Design