A heat and power plant, cafe, and nursery to serve homes and businesses across the Elephant and Castle development where fire protection design was a key challenge.

2020 AIA UK Excellence in Design Award – Commendation
2020 RIBA Regional South London Awards – Shortlisted
2019 New London Awards – Winner

The four-storey Energy Hub provides heat and hot water to almost 3,000 new homes, built as part of the £2.3bn Elephant Park development. It features a café on the ground floor, and a nursery on the second and third floors. Further space on the first floor has been reserved for community use.

Eckersley O’Callaghan assisted Morris + Company in preparing facade tender information and monitoring the contractor during construction. Fire protection design was a key challenge on this project. We developed a fire protection strategy for the facade, in line with the current code requirements.

The projecting “POD windows” were required to meet stringent thermal performance standards. We contributed to the design development of a bespoke system by performing 2D heat transfer simulation studies, ensuring that the facade met the thermal performance requested.

We carried out a facade interstitial condensation assessment for the energy centre rooms in order to justify the omission of the vapour control membrane from the wall buildup. This resulted in a saving for the client.

Complexities in the contractor monitoring were heightened when halfway into construction the appointed specialist contractor went into administration. We were able to assist the client through the transition period before a new contractor was appointed to complete the works.

Location
London

Client
Lendlease

Architect
Morris + Company