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Gateshead Advice Centre manager Libby Hinson with Mark Kidd from Koru Property Services
http://www.greenbuildnews.co.uk/images/img/articles/297_198/Articles_447_1_1317638371.jpg
The centre, built and designed by Koru Property Services, a full service construction firm, used 52 shipping containers to form its framework. Other sustainable features include four large solar panels on the roof of the centre, low-energy lighting and an air source heat pump.
Mark Kidd, the company's senior quantity surveyor, says that the use of shipping containers in construction is not uncommon overseas, but believes this to be one of very few such schemes in the UK and the first of its kind in the region, ahead of the completion of Sunderland Enterprise Centre, which is expected to open in the new year.
He adds: “As well as being an excellent method of disposing with old shipping containers, being made out of steel, the containers are an ideal building material because they are strong and conduct heat well, keeping warmth inside the building and therefore, reducing CO2 emissions. Because we are involved in such a broad range of contracts, we have been able to utilise our team of experts in-house to design and construct Gateshead Advice Centre, which is not only incredibly sustainable through the reuse of scrap materials, but also will incur substantially lower running costs, enabling CAB and CLAC to plough their resources back into Gateshead community.”
Construction of the new Gateshead Advice Centre has been made possible through a mixture of loans and grants aimed at encouraging sustainability in new buildings. There are 64 members of staff and over 70 volunteers, now on site to provide the extensive services now being offered from the new eco building. The centre's manager, Libby Hinson, says: “We are delighted with our new premises. As well as being incredibly sustainable, it is both attractive and extremely user-friendly, with enough space for us to be able to provide an increased level of services to a broader range of people.”
The centre, situated on Swan Street, at the bottom of Gateshead High Street, is called The Davidson Building in recognition of The Davidson Trust, a small Gateshead-based family trust, which donated its remaining resources to help fund the building project.
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