A new renewable energy research centre on the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, embracing British manufactured renewable technologies to provide a teaching facility for the design, build, test and display of projects and opportunities relating to renewable energy engineering.
The Renewable Energy Engineering Facility (REEF) provides dedicated engineering workshop and laboratory space for student research projects as well as a means for businesses to identify challenge areas and opportunities for renewable technologies and collaborations with experts in renewable energy.
The REEF facility’s construction was ‘ground-breaking’ in its own approach to sustainability. With a glulam timber frame and space heating supported by a Kensa Evo ground source heat pumps manufactured just seven miles from REEF, the building's design reduces the total embodied carbon footprint of the building’s construction. The facility also has operational renewable energy technologies that students are able to conduct experiments on or compare the outputs of with their simulations and calculations.
To further deliver on the buildings ultra-low carbon footprint ambitions, the design obtained a BREEAM Excellent rating on completion, which put it in the top 10% of all new buildings, and in the ‘Best Practice’ category as set by the Building Research Establishment (BRE).
