Design Research Unit Wales ((DRUw) at the Welsh School of Architecture has recently completed a Environmental Resource Centre (ERC) at The Works regeneration site in Ebbw Vale, south Wales. The 140 square metre classroom is the first building completed on the former steelworks site, which is to include a learning campus, hospital, sports facilities, 500 homes and workplaces.

It is also the first to use the Ty Unnos Sitka spruce construction system developed by DRU-w and Coed Cymru as a collaborative research project that aimed to find a sustainable, low-tech and low-cost method of stabilising homegrown Spruce for construction. Box beams (270×210mm )are fabricated from readily-available sizes of spruce for use in portal frames. This first prototype comprises nine 7.2 metre portal frames at 2.4 metre centres, with birch and spruce plywood structurally insulated panels (SIPs) between for floor, walls, doors and roof, giving a U-value of 0.15 W/m2K. Prefabricated off-site, the superstructure was assembled in 10 days.

The ERC sits next to the the former steelworks pumphouse and filtration tanks, now a haven for wildlife. The classroom has a simple rectilinear form with two key axes: an oak access deck leads to exploratory boardwalks, separating the classroom and toilet zones, and separating a servant storage wall from the served classroom which opens out to views across the filtration tanks and valley beyond.

‘The building uses predominantly local materials and achieves a 60 per cent reduction in energy use over Building Regulations’, says Matthew Jones, an architect woth DRU-W. ‘A layered construction creates a didactic demonstration of sustainability through a heavily insulated fabric, passive ventilation, rainwater drainage channel and a high-efficiency air-to-air heat pump for additional heating and ventilation, supported by a solar hot water array.’

Internally, prefabricated birch plywood and recycled paper pin board units create a storage wall along the rear of the classroom, containing services, modular storage and wet spaces. The classroom opens to its immediate industrial setting and wider landscaped context through sliding and folding screens. The layered facade creates a play of colour and depth with red, yellow and black steel panels of wildlife super-graphics themed on four local habitats: woodland, industrial, wetland and grassland. These are concealed and revealed by charred vertical timber cladding around the classroom that blends with both the natural and industrial context and a galvanised steel grating over the WC block. An oversailing sinusoidal roof connects the two parts of the building and reinforces its horizontality, as well as providing solar shading to the glazed west elevation.

Design Research Unit Wales was established in 2001 with the aim of founding the creative activities of the design studio on a research-based approach. Its projects, which range from furniture to affordable housing, are mainly in Wales. Schemes are often pursued through collective and collaborative endeavour in partnership with others. Alongside design projects, DRUw undertakes orthodox research in sustainable design.