Case studies

Rainwater harvesting central to sustainability of new Library at Queen’s University

It cost £50 million to build, provides 2,000 reader places and has space for over 1.5 million publications, but the new Library at Queen's is not only a world-class educational resource; it is also a beacon of sustainable construction.

The new Library is an awe-inspiring landmark building that, in the few months it has been opened, has already become an integral part of the landscape of the University.

The building blends the best features of a traditional library with the latest technology, to create a 21st century environment for Queen's students and staff. It is the culmination of one of the most ambitious building projects, and the largest single fundraising initiative, in the University’s history. The fundraising campaign was spearheaded over five years by The Queen’s University of Belfast Foundation

New facility

‘The building is a wonderful structure both inside and out, and one that the wider Queen’s family can be justifiably proud of. For the first time in a single location, students and staff will have access to a rich and extensive collection of written materials, two state-of-art language laboratories, extensive training areas, and 21 group study rooms,’ explained Gary Jebb, Director of Estates at Queen’s. ‘And, in busy exam times, these facilities will be available 24 hours a day.’

He added, ‘Having been involved in the project since its inception, it is wonderful to see how the concepts and ideas which we worked on several years ago have come to fruition, from the multi-storey atrium which dominates and illuminates the building, to the overwhelming sense of space and the abundance of natural light.’

The Library’s ground floor facilities include IT training rooms, a café, language centre and support areas, while the upper storeys accommodate 1.2 million volumes, along with the University’s Special Collections and a vast range of other printed works, over three extensive floors.

Green credentials

Integral to the design by Boston-based architects Shepley Bulfinch Richardson & Abbott, who worked on the building in association with Robinson Patterson Partnership in Belfast, is the provision of secluded places for quiet study as well as areas for group work.

From the inception of the project the designers and specifiers of the Library were very conscious of its green requirements.

‘The building is a model of sustainable design,’ Gary Jebb said. ‘The latest technology is used to ensure the working atmosphere is carefully controlled, with thermal rods buried deep underground used to store heat in summer for use later in the year. Natural light sensors and automatically operated windows will reduce electricity consumption and running costs.

‘One of the most interesting pieces of environmental technology installed in the building is the Envireau system from Kingspan Water, which recovers the rainwater which falls on the roof of the building,” he added.

Alan Wright from Kingspan Environmental explains how the system works. ‘The library is a living, working building that uses millions of litres of water each year. Given the high level of rainfall it makes perfect sense to capture that water for free as a resource for the building.

“Educational buildings have a very intensive use of water and our objective was to design a water recovery system that would deliver the maximum volume of water possible for the daily running of the building.’” he adds.

“The benefits of the system are manifold. Firstly it substantially reduces the annual consumption of water by people using the building, and also ensures that there is much less water discharged into the surface water sewer.”

The water savings generated by the simple technology are very impressive. The rainwater is collected from over 3,000 square metres of roof surface and is then filtered to remove any organic debris washed down from the roof, before it is collected in an underground rainwater harvesting tank. The filtered water is then automatically pumped back in to the building on demand using a low power consumption multistage pump system. The harvested rainwater is used to replace mains water for toilet flushing purposes within the building.

During periods of low or no rainfall, the system will automatically change over to mains water supply thus ensuring continuity of supply to the building and as soon as the inevitable rainfall occurs, the system switches back to rainwater supply.

The library is able to harvest an impressive 2.6 million litres of water each year, which is the equivalent of 82 twenty five metre swimming pools or almost half a million toilet flushes.

The system cost £13,000 to install and at the current rate of water charges will have paid off the investment, through lower water charges, in just four years.

‘It is important to realise that a water recovery system like this completely transforms how water is consumed by the building. You use less water, and produce less waste, which reduces the carbon footprint of the building and puts much less pressure on the surface water infrastructure in the area. Such factors are viewed very favourably by planners when they are considering the impact of new buildings,” says Wright.

‘There has been a sea change in the attitude to large scale environmentally focused construction projects. Ten years ago very few people were engaged in them and then they were embraced by a small few early adopters, but now delivering low energy high performance building is the standard expected by clients,’ says Wright.

One of the major benefits on this project was being able to deliver respected off the shelf environmental products in terms of heating and thermal performance and on rainwater harvesting. It is very impressive that large companies like Kingpsan have made easy to use and install solutions that were very simple to install. Crucially the operation of the rainwater harvesting system is very easy and the maintenance cost is very low.

Lasting legacy

The Library also makes a distinctive contribution to the Belfast skyline and the aesthetic qualities of the Queen's Conservation Area, and is a tangible example of the ongoing renaissance of the city.

‘The Library has already become an exciting and essential part of the student experience,’ said Gary Jebb. ‘Most importantly, however, it will provide invaluable resources for future generations of students and researchers, and is an investment which will benefit not just Queen’s but the community it serves.

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