Celebrating Newcastle’s heritage at the Frederick Douglass Centre

Heritage – why the Frederick Douglass Centre?

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery sometime around 1818 on a plantation in Maryland, USA. He escaped slavery 20 years later and became one of the most famous intellectuals of his time, advising presidents and lecturing around the world.

His lecture tour brought him to Newcastle, where he stayed with two active campaigners for social causes, Ellen and Anna Richardson, who subsequently raised the money to buy Douglass’s freedom. The Richardson’s lived on Summerhill Grove, near where the FDC stands today.

The University wanted to honour Douglass and his links to the city to reflect its core values of social justice and equality, diversity and inclusion. The atrium space includes an exhibition based on quotes from the life of Frederick Douglass.

Shared goals – sustainability

The Newcastle Helix quarter has significantly contributed to Newcastle’s net zero targets and is a future-focused development, securing the “smartest city in the UK” title in the global smart city index.

There was no doubt from the concept stage that the FDC needed to compliment the approach, with the University listing sustainability as a core design, construction and in-use requirement. Our brief was that the FDC must:

• Be innovative yet contextually appropriate to the wider Helix masterplan
• Achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating
• Use proven low-energy solutions

The wider Helix development provided some opportunities, including connecting to the campus-wide combined heat and power network and using landscaping to manage overland water control and reduce flood risk.

We also improved biodiversity, through robust planting and an extensive green sedum roof on the auditorium.

The University and Sir Robert McAlpine share the aim to reduce the carbon footprint and wider environmental impact at all stages: from construction into operation.

During construction

• Electric on site from permanent supplies rather than generators
• 1,191.2 tonnes of recycled content used
• 3% reduction in carbon emissions (based on scope 1 and 2 emissions from a baseline of 15.59tCO₂e/£m for project value)
• Storm water attenuation tanks under the site were changed to a preassembled helibore pipe system (Tubosider), reducing excavation and concrete use
• 6% of all waste diverted from landfill
• 4% of construction waste diverted from landfill
• A waste neutral position of -458.51% from our benchmark requirements with a diversion of waste from landfill achieved at 99.37%
• 07 t/100m² GIFA construction waste

Materials

• 9% timber from verified Category A FSC/ PEFC sources
• 4% of key building materials responsibly sourced – certified BES6001/ ISO4001
• Systems designed to use less pipework, made from recycled steel with a minimum 60-year design life

Ongoing use

• Exposed concrete’s thermal mass provides a heat sink
• Natural ventilation in the extensive social learning spaces and offices, and mixed-mode ventilation in the teaching spaces
• Reduction of 10.6% in total regulated energy through improved fabric performance
• Efficient heating / cooling from the campus-wide energy centre, surpassing the 2025 RIBA targets for energy consumption
• Strict water conservation, including flow restrictors to outlets, automatic closers, PIR sensors, pulsed output water meters linked to the University metering system and leak detection systems
• Auditorium structure is a box-in-box steel frame to ensure minimal heat loss in winter and minimal heat gain in the summer

With the challenges of climate change clearly in our minds, we also ensured that the design was assessed through a comprehensive thermal modelling exercise. PROMETHEUS future design weather files were used for both 2030 and 2050 scenarios and these showed that the building provides suitable comfort levels operating as a naturally ventilated building in the future.