Ravelin Sports Centre, University of Portsmouth

A collaborative soft landings strategy ensured the University’s management and operations teams had a good understanding of the building and its systems at handover and into occupation.

Intensive post-occupancy monitoring and user feedback have been used to fine-tune systems and controls for optimum comfort and energy efficiency. In the first six months since opening, the data has shown that the building’s operational energy consumption is less than 100 kWh/m²/yr, which is around one-tenth of the energy demand of an equivalent typical UK sports centre. 

This ultra-low level of carbon emissions is compatible with a net-zero carbon future, and the building is all-electric, meaning its carbon emissions will continue to fall as the UK grid continues to decarbonise.

In the sports hall, conditions are maintained year-round using natural ventilation. Air from outside is introduced through opening louvres, positioned strategically to ensure air movement does not affect the flight of badminton shuttlecocks. Unusually, the sports hall is positioned on top of the ground-floor fitness suite and changing rooms. This ensures that it and the swimming pool benefit from roof lights, providing passive heating and daylight, which saves energy and is good for wellbeing.

In the swimming pool, four large roof lights supplement daylight from the full-height glazing on the north and east elevations. The impact of daylight was analysed for the pool to ensure glare and reflections from the water surface would not impede the lifeguards’ views of swimmers on and below the surface of the water.

For the majority of the year, the pool hall roof lights remain closed, providing free heat and light to the pool area but they can be opened on hot days, enabling the space to be used like an outdoor pool. When the temperature drops, the roof lights close and the space reverts to mechanical ventilation with heat recovery.