Country: United Kingdom
Key Area: Buildings
Services: Civil Engineering,Structural Engineering

Opus undertook the civil and structural engineering design for the £7million Environment Centre for Wales, which was opened by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Centre was built with the environment in mind; Photovoltaic panels have been installed to generate electricity from sunlight, ground-source heat pumps air-condition the building using minimal energy and at low cost, and a rainwater recovery system is used to reduce dependency on mains water supply.

These features required innovative structural engineering design and coordination and ensured that the Centre obtained a BREEAM rating of excellence.

The Centre brings together the scientific expertise of the Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Bangor University.  Photographs are courtesy of Bangor University.