Many stores would be doubling the floor space with the addition of a mezzanine floor and some stores would be new-build. The renovations would require consequential improvements under current Building Regulations, and Energy Building were responsible for providing a detailed report of services systems and efficiency, feasibility payback periods, U-Value standards, iSBEM calculations on new build and general advice on Mechanical, Electrical and Thermal issues. To date we have successfully carried out work on 50 stores and, with more to come, we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with one of the UK's household names in retail.

Hence, the pitch to Hull City Council to make proposed new-build '5th Avenue Primary School' a low-carbon, eco-friendly project faced that much more opposition than it would have if conceived today.

Contracted to Hull City Council, Energy Building, together with Ettridge Architecture began a consultation with Hull Property department on the scheme and, through attrition and grim determination, managed to prick a few ears up and gradually turn the design team onto a future-proof ideology for new public-owned properties. The premise, to construct a building which would more than surpass the soon-to-be mandatory Part L (2006) Building Regulations, and through the use of renewable technology, protect the building from rising fuel costs going forward. Our design features included a Ground Source Heat Pump, Wind Turbines, Passive Natural Ventilation in line with BB101, Dynamic Thermal Modelling to determine air flow and cooling effects of exposed thermal mass, Intelligent Lighting, a Building Energy Management System including sub-metering to lighting, power, heating and ancillary equipment. The school would have unprecedented insulation U-Values, sustainably sourced materials and utilise 'Passivent' Wind Catchers coupled with automatic ventilation louvers for secure, night-time cooling.

The school was completed in May 2008 and is now occupied. As a building, the list of sustainable design features today seem somewhat prosaic when viewed alongside the surge in this type of development, but we are still very proud of what we achieved and proud of Hull City Council for having the courage to take an early step into unchartered territory at the time.

With a limited number of options available for heating and a client with an ambitious, low carbon agenda, we set our sights on breaking the mould for servicing apartment blocks.

An extended feasibility study generated an interesting and challenging proposal - to service all the apartments with a community heating scheme generated at a central plant position located in the subterranean car park. Each apartment would benefit from a super efficient heat exchanger delivering both hot water and heating as and when required without local storage, flues or gas pipework.

The project leaped ahead and arrived on time and budget thanks to the commitment and unwavering support of local M & E contractors - Binks Building Services and Phase Electrical. The heat exchangers are metered for heat and this value is converted back into calorific consumption and bills are issued by the management company via a networked billing platform linked to the metering system. Apart from reducing many of the typical risks associated with gas installations in apartments, this heating system helped to delivered 'B' ratings for all the apartment's 'Energy Performance Certificates'. The apartments have been sold remarkably quickly given the downward trend of the housing market in recent times and are considered by many estate agents to be the best apartments in the entire city centre of Hull.

The project has been developed to the exacting standards expected by this private/public partnership and 'thinking outside the box' has been the mantra throughout.

To deliver up to 6 cubic meters of fresh air every second and maintain a year round temperature of 18°C in the most energy efficient manner possible was the brief. The solution has been to engineer a building which mirrors the very action of the athletes inside - to breathe at a variable rate. The greater the demand, the higher the air change. As numbers of occupants in the building fall, so does the ventilation rate. As with the human body, continuous close control and response systems are provided by way of a fully functional building management system. Final details are being added presently with an expected completion date of late 2009.