The building is naturally ventilated, and incorporates night time cooling with high thermal mass. It also incorporates rainwater recycling for WC flushing, low-flow sanitary ware and a planted green roof. The College includes a biomass boiler, which contributes to the excellent energy performance, with a 31% improvement over building regulations. Low environmental impact materials, such as in the laminated timber frame structure were used. The building achieved 7 of 7 credits for BREEAM MW1: Materials Specification – Major Building Elements. A critical requirement was a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating which the building achieved.

Sustainable construction forms part of the curriculum of the National Dip in Building and Civil Engineering at Ystrad Mynach and we wanted to integrate visible sustainable aspects as a demonstrative tool for learning about buildings and sustainability, hence the rainwater harvesting system is deliberately visible from the refectory. Ystrad Mynach is a leading example of sustainable practice in further education, a building in which education not only takes place, but is itself a teaching resource.

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