Kingston University Town House

Multi award winning Kingston University Town House is a flagship building which will act as a front gate to Kingston University

The Town House includes learning resources centres on several floors with library, a covered courtyard designed for events, innovative learning and local civic engagement opportunities and specialist space providing flexible learning areas for academic dance, drama courses

The building is efficient and environmentally conscious awarded BREEAM Excellent. There are high sustainability targets as a low carbon building whilst ecological aspects and biodiversity of the site is encouraged by use of brown roofs and planters within the colonnade on the façade

A stormwater attenuation tank is incorporated to reduce run off water thus reducing flood risk. Primary heating is provided via CHP, boiler and Air Source Heat Pump (with aspirations to utilise river source water heat pumps in the future)

Thermo Active Building System (TABS) with embedded chilled water loops act as heat absorbers to take advantage of the thermal mass of the building structure and maintain a stable and cooler environment during warmer conditions

A displacement ventilation system delivers a greater ventilation efficiency than a conventional ‘mixing’ system, this is demand – led, utilising CO2 and temperature sensors, to maintain ideal environmental conditions

The building also has an artefact storage facility which requires specific environmental conditions achieved with localised temperature and humidity control. Adjacent to the store is an isolation room for preparing and decontaminating artefacts for storage. This facility uses a dedicated ventilation system designed to prevent cross contamination

The ventilation system is designed to stringent noise criteria within performance spaces whilst also serving as the heating and cooling system, introducing supply air via terrace seating, acoustic panels and floor grilles. The control system allows the facility to be temporarily isolated during times when theatrical smoke and haze is in use, whilst maintaining the functionality of the environmental control and fire safety systems