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David Fisher
The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology was delighted to receive two awards from the Oxford Preservation Trust, which celebrates the contribution that buildings and environmental projects make to the city’s character. The new roof extension won the 2021 Green Award for Sustainability as well as being awarded a Certificate in the New Building category.
It was designed by Fathom Architects to target ambitious PassivHaus EnerPHit standards and included features for airtightness, minimising thermal bridging and the use of triple glazing.
One of the key considerations was the energy efficiency of the building. To minimise the impact of cooling, glazing was replaced by fixed panels, external louvres and internal blinds. Insulation was added behind the non-transparent parts of the wall to improve its thermal performance. The roof has also been future-proofed with the structure designed to accommodate photo voltaic panels to be installed at a later stage.
The features were incorporated while maintaining the aesthetic of the original building.
Chairman of the Awards Panel, The Rev Prof William Whyte remarked that the sustainability standards reached were an “extraordinarily difficult thing to do with laboratories.”