Building for the next generation
Building capacity
What does a sustainable building look like for the future? That was the question posed as education, construction and sustainability professionals from around the region gathered at Ron Dearing University Technical College’s STEAM Studios to explore the remarkable journey of the building from disused and unloved fire station to state-of-the-art creative studios for some of Hull’s most talented young people.
Ron Dearing UTC is a University Technical College that opened in Hull in 2017. Specialising in engineering, creative and digital technology, what makes it different is that it offers a bespoke curriculum, taking the lead from its employer partners and offering subjects that meet and address local and national skills gaps.
Over-subscribed from the start, the UTC needed to create more space to teach, and extra facilities to provide studios for creative subjects. In 2023, they opened the STEAM Studios, a huge refurbishment project that turned an old, unused former fire station into a new modern teaching resource.
Building sustainability
During the event, Sewell Group’s sustainable retrofit expert Steve Dam and Ron Dearing UTC Senior Assistant Principal Glenn Jensen took guests through the story of the STEAM Studios project. They explored the history of the building, which was originally built in the early Victorian period, looking at its uses through the years, and then talking about why the school decided to embark on a project to take on such a challenging refurbishment project.
Glenn Jensen said: “At the beginning of the project, I was extremely naïve. I only cared about sustainability. I thought ‘stick solar panels on it, get a heat pump’ and that’s it. I didn’t understand the process we needed to go through, and that’s where Steve and the team came in.”
Steve Dam explained some of the challenges of refurbishing a historic building.
“When I first walked into the building before we started work, it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be an easy project,” he said. “There was absolutely no insulation, the floor had a significant slope, and there was no external footprint – it was right next to the theatre.”
The design and construction team worked together to present a range of options to the school, highlighting the different pros and cons of various options. Budgets were a big issue, as although the school had funding from the Department of Education, it was £1m short of what they needed. Fortunately, leading renewable energy company Orsted, who are a major partner of Ron Dearing UTC, generously made a substantial financial contribution towards the scheme, which enabled the project to go ahead.
The decision was made to focus the refurbishment on the building fabric, but also futureproofing it for future sustainability interventions. The roof was changed to meet modern standards, there was a full internal building fabric upgrade, the pipes were made compatible with the forthcoming district heating network, and space was left in the basement for a heat exchanger.
Building futures
Both Steve and Glenn emphasised that the STEAM Studios were not at the end of their sustainability journey – they are at a point of time, and there are still improvements to come.
Some of the discussion around the table focused on how the design and construction industry can often feel like their role ends once the project is handed over to the client, but actually it’s important for the relationship to be an ongoing one. As the building users settle in, it can be interesting to see how they use the building in reality, and if that causes any problems or creates any opportunities.
The project has also been useful from an education standpoint, with the STEAM Studios refurbishment now used as a case study for the UTC’s sustainability students. Students Aoife Curran-Smirk and Fin Nichols have completed a project about the refurbishment, and presented some of their creative and visionary ideas for the future of the building at the event.
The two students, and others who are studying sustainability at the UTC, are able to be part of the process of the retrofit project, following it as a live case study and seeing how their own ideas are translated and modified by practical and regulatory factors to become real-life carbon-reducing interventions.
And what is the future of the building?
Glenn says: “Funding is an issue, but we want to use the school as a pilot for the city and beyond. The first year in the building has been about settling in and making sure we use the building as efficiently as possible, and now we can start to look at the next stage. What’s right now isn’t necessarily right next week, but we have faith in the way the sustainability sector is moving and we’re looking forward to inspiring others in the city to follow our lead and bring the city’s unloved buildings back to life.”
