Stansted Airport’s £11m technical skills college has been given a stamp of approval for its ‘green’ credentials.
Ingleton Wood’s experts in sustainability were brought in to advise on the construction of the building from concept to completion.
The aim was to meet the high standards of BREEAM, the world’s leading sustainability assessment method, and now the building has emerged with a ‘Very Good’ score.
Stansted Airport College opened in the last quarter of 2018 and can train up to 500 students annually in technical skills, traineeships and apprenticeships. It is going to play a crucial role in providing London Stansted Airport with skilled on-site workers.
A BREEAM ‘Very Good’ accreditation is a mark of approval and means the building goes above and beyond building regulations, and best practice, to achieve lower running costs.
Rob Diamond, Associate and Sustainability Consultant at Ingleton Wood, said: “It has been my passion over the past 20 years to work on helping to create sustainable buildings and my team has now achieved more than 50 fully-certified BREEAM projects, which makes me feel very proud.”
He said sustainable buildings matter, and this is why: “Emissions from the UK’s 25 million homes and two million commercial and public buildings account for 17 per cent of the Country’s direct Green House Gas emissions.
“If we are to try to limit carbon emissions and avoid catastrophic climate change, we have to focus on our buildings, where we live and work and spend some 90 per cent of our time.”
Luke Skinner, Design Manager at Willmott Dixon Construction, which carried out the build for the college and sought the advice of Ingleton Wood, said: “Working collaboratively with Ingleton Wood to achieve our BREEAM requirements was a very straightforward process. I feel they are very much on board with the “One Team” ethos that we at Willmott Dixon embrace. We had some minor challenges during the design process at Stansted Airport College which were easily resolved working with Ingleton Wood and the rest of the design team. As one of our Consortia partners, we use Ingleton Wood on various schemes, and I would happily work with them again.”
Ingleton Wood is licensed to carry out BREEAM assessments and is thoroughly audited to ensure it meets the criteria of the rigorous appraisals.
Additionally, the accolade from BREEAM means a building enhances the well-being of the people who occupy it and is a sign that nearby natural resources have been protected.