The 16,500m2 new Faculty of Social Sciences building is designed to meet the future growth demands of the department up to the year 2035 and creates a world class, BREEAM outstanding building.
The landscape design for the new University of Sheffield building set out to create a large area of public realm on the social sciences campus, with provision for sustainable drainage systems including extensive use of tree pits and rain gardens. As part of the SuDS design specifications, a Blue Roof stormwater drainage system was considered as an alternative option to underground attenuation tanks to keep surface water run-off within the discharge consent.
ABG were able to demonstrate that specifying a shallow Blue Roof attenuation layer involved much lower carbon emissions than excavating underground storage tanks.
The volume of vehicle movements required to install underground stormwater attenuation compared to the ABG blueroof system was calculated (delivered from ABG’s factory based 25 miles away), and a carbon footprint saving of 59% was estimated. The reduction in construction emissions was deemed particularly important given the site’s proximity to the Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
