The Lee Valley Athletics Centre in London has a incredibly low carbon footprint
The Lee Valley Athletics Centre is located at the Lee Valley Leisure Complex formerly known as Picketts Lock in Edmonton, London Borough of Enfield. Lee Valley Athletics Centre (LVAC) is the largest indoor and outdoor athletics centre serving London and the South of England. It’s a state-of-the-art building that aims to provide sporting facilities for athletes of all levels. Housing the only indoor 200 metre six lane track in the South of England, it also comprises a 130-metre sprint straight, permanent seating for 500 spectators both inside and out, full jumps and throws capacity, and cutting-edge sports science and physiotherapy suites. The site is open to the general public as well as elite athletes.
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Location
London, Great Britain
Sector
Sports Facilities
Project Type
New build
A remarkable small carbon footprint
The building shape is based on the space requirements for each sport taking place. By stacking them in this particular way, the footprint of the building is the smallest possible, leaving more space for outdoor training. The indoor 200m running track has been sunk into the ground; normally it would have raised banks. This is so that the track is visible from ground level and all the spectator seats have good visibility. The earth that was excavated for this track was used to create banks around the outdoor track. These banks help reduce headwinds for runners and create informal spectator areas. The large columns to the west of the building are raked so that they are able to support the roof, creating a long-span open space. By placing them at an angle there is no need to provide cross bracing too, which gives a visual simplicity to their form. The roof is punctuated with north lights that provide natural light; during daylight hours there should be no need to use the electric lights. The roof lights are openable, which allows air to flow through the building, regulating the temperature and making it a more amenable training environment. The openable sections are covered externally by a shade that can be fitted with photovoltaic panel to further reduce the energy use of the building. The building recently received an A Grade Display Energy Certificate (DEC), which places it in the top 1% of public buildings for energy efficiency.
Automated ventilation system
LVAC features a natural cooling and ventilation system designed by consulting engineers Max Fordham LLP. It uses 240 WindowMaster actuators to operate windows automatically in order to naturally ventilate the main arena and other rooms. WindowMaster was chosen to provide window automation systems because of its ability to provide a complete installation. In addition to the motors and window actuators, the system includes sensors monitoring temperature and carbon dioxide levels, a weather station and the intelligent central computer control system, NV Advance®.
