Nottingham Trent engineering team has successfully integrated a biomass boiler and district heating system in a challenging retrofit project involving a neglected Victorian register office.
When Nottingham Trent University (NTU) acquired a listed building in the heart of Nottingham in 2012 as the future new home for its central administration team, the University’s in-house engineering department knew it had a difficult task ahead.
Built in 1887, 50 Shakespeare Street is a Grade II listed former council register office. Over its lifetime the building had suffered years of neglect, bomb damage and unsympathetic refurbishments – and, with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating ‘F’, it was obvious the building was also leaking energy.
Four years on and the building’s transformation has been nothing short of miraculous. Now fully refurbished and restored by the university, this Romanesque gem is an exemplar of energy efficiency; its EPC rating has improved significantly from an F to a B – a similar rating to an equivalent newly built scheme. Also, after a year’s occupation, the scheme delivered a B Display Energy Certificate (DEC) for operational energy, well below the energy use expected for a building of its type.
