The Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre (NZIIC) for Teesside University supports the ongoing drive for clean energy and positions Teesside firmly at the heart of the UK’s green industrial revolution. The centre provides a focus for major investment and promotes Teesside as a national centre of excellence for low carbon economy.
Delivered to meet strict deadlines to allow for ERDF and Tees Valley Combined Authority funding to be secured, the NZIIC was designed to meet exemplary and exacting sustainability specifications. Constructed through a careful choice of materials and utilising a fabric first, passive approach, the NZIIC has achieved RIBA 2025 Net Zero credentials and was designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating, through the implementation of a robust design and assessment methodology.
The success of this project has allowed GSS to take forward processes that were introduced for the scheme and improve these on subsequent projects. One example is the practice-wide investment in One Click LCA software, which delivers a streamlined assessment of carbon consumption, which proved an integral part of the architectural design development process on the NZIIC.
Three Winning Facts:
- One-Click LCA was used to assess and record the embodied carbon during the construction phase. The final outcome was a reduced figure of 562 kgC0²e/m² which achieves the RIBA 2025 target at the time.
- Achieved BREEAM “Outstanding” in Design (90.99% score) and will achieve BREEAM “Outstanding” in delivery (targeting 88.87% and awaiting final occupancy date for submission to BRE).
- The building itself will drive society’s shift to a low carbon economy creating a cumulative effect for the Tees Valley. The building practices what it preaches and will allow specialist research into decarbonisation, smart energy, circular economy and research and innovation that will bring academia and industry together under one roof.
