Manchester Aquatic Centre
Client
Manchester City Council
Value
£31,000,000
As part of Manchester City Council’s target to reduce carbon emissions by around 13% per annum, Manchester Aquatics Centre is due to undergo a full refurbishment with the replacement of all mechanical and electrical building services systems within the building.
The project team were set a target to reduce the buildings energy use by at least 30%. Accounting for the size of the building and its considerable energy use, this should go someway towards meeting Manchester City Council’s carbon emissions targets.
The project consists of two elements, the main works being the complete replacement of all M&E services within the building, and the Carbon reduction works which consists of the installation of two air source heat pumps (ASHPs) covering the buildings base heating load and approximatey 348 MWh of PV on the buildings roof, which combined together will achieve the 30% carbon reduction target.
As part of the main works, further efforts will be made to improve the building services systems. Heat recovery will be provided to all air handling systems, whereas previously many were without. Base heating and cooling loads will be provided by 2 new ASHPs, with heat extracted from gym spaces being recycled to heat swimming pools and provide domestic hot water when required.
New high efficiency LED lighting will be provided throughout.
Working within the constraints of an existing building is a challenge, which is made even more difficult by the phasing of the project.
The building is in frequent use by members of the public and local swimming clubs, in particular the UK paralympic swimming team who use the facility as a training base. Therefore, it is not feasible to have any significant downtime and hence the project has been split into two phases.
Phase 1 is the refurbishment of the ground and first floors of the building, whilst access to the basement swimming pool and associated changing areas is maintained.
Once phase 1 is completed and opened in time for the World Paralympics Championship in 2023, phase 2 will then commence which consists of the refurbishment of the basement pool and associated changing areas.
Working within a live building and maintaining services provision to certain areas is a great challenge and has led to a series of enabling works packages and temporary heating systems which have enabled the phasing to take place.