The £30m Erne Campus of South West College, designed by Hamilton Architects, is officially the world’s first educational – and currently the largest – Passive House Premium rated building.
Economy Minister Diane Dodds announced the accreditation while visiting the 8,000sqm state-of-the-art project in Enniskillen, which opens to 800 full-time and 2,000 part-time students and 120 staff in September.
Erne Campus is the first building in the UK to achieve both PHP status from the Passive House Institute in Germany and BREEAM outstanding accreditations. It also recently won a BREEAM Public Sector Project – Design Stage Award.
Mark Haslett, Hamilton Partner in charge of this mould-breaking design, said: “Erne Campus was a challenging project, not least because of its size and complexity – there is not much room for error at PHP status level.
“We are delighted the project has reached all its design and energy targets and has been recognised for the excellence of that achievement. It is a world leader and hopefully the first of many such projects in education and beyond.”
The Minister said: “I am delighted to see the excellent progress made on this stunning new further education campus, which is an iconic new asset for South West College and the wider Enniskillen area.”
She said the standards achieved, while challenging, would deliver significant benefits for curriculum provision and greatly reduce building management costs.
“It will also further demonstrate the college and my Department’s ongoing commitment to deliver a modern, economically-focused curriculum in new, world class, state-of-the-art facilities,” she added.
SWC Chief Executive Michael McAlister said they took great pride in this significant sustainability milestone, which had been central to the Erne Campus from the earliest stages of planning.
“Renewable energy and sustainability have been at the forefront of college delivery for several years, both in terms of the curriculum we offer to students and our own construction practices,” he said.
“The world-class Erne campus will deliver a unique curriculum, education and a training programme specialising in renewable energy and sustainability in a live working environment. We hope that in this way we can also advance sustainability in construction across these islands and beyond.”
