News & Media

VINCI Building's York Guildhall project wins three awards at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards

VINCI Building's York Guildhall project wins three awards at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards

3 minute read

Listen to article
Audio generated by DropInBlog's Blog Voice AI™ may have slight pronunciation nuances. Learn more

On 29 February, VINCI Building's York Guildhall project were awarded three prestigious awards at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards. With the awards submitted by SGA Consulting, the CIBSE Building Performance Awards (BPAs) 2024 recognise the people, products and projects that demonstrate engineering excellence in the built environment. The CIBSE BPAs are the only industry awards that focus on actual, measured performance outcomes, and not just design intent or performance specifications. 

Project of the Year Award - Commercial and Offices

‘An exemplar of how to breathe new life into a 15th-century building.’

According to the award judges, the most impressive part of the refurbishment and extension of York Guildhall was the way in which it used an adjacent river to overcome issues, rather than seeing the waterway as an obstacle.

The Grade I, II and II* listed Guildhall complex is located in a very congested part of York and is difficult to access because there are only narrow archways onto a pedestrian street.

With the River Ouse right next to (and sometimes inside) the building, the team adopted a complex logistics plan to transport heavier equipment and materials via the waterway, using a crane, barges and temporary pontoons.

It also harnessed the water for heating and cooling the Guildhall, while mitigating its threat by introducing flood doors and accepting that, at times, the building will flood because of climate change.

In addition, the project team uncovered and refurbished a Victorian natural ventilation system, incorporating it into the finished scheme.

Project of the Year Award - Retrofit

Its design strategy used the opportunities offered by the building and the site to deliver energy and carbon savings. A fabric-first approach was adopted, complemented by a water source heat pump, and the original Victorian natural ventilation system was enhanced. The judges praised the team's use of the river as a transport route and as a resource for the building services, which they said showed flexibility in thinking and a willingness to implement different concepts.

A 2-circuit reverse-cycle heat pump provides approximately 110kW of simultaneous heating and cooling and offers a carbon saving of 42% compared with using a gas boiler. Underfloor heating was installed within the Guildhall to maximise the area and effectiveness of the heat emitter. This was not able to provide all the heat to the Guildhall, however, because of heat loss through its listed walls and windows, so boiler-fed trench heating was also installed for peak winter months. 

The judges said this type of mixed use shows the way forward in how to use low and zero carbon systems to heat old buildings.

Building Performance Champion

The 2024 Building Performance Champion ‘shows what can be achieved to deliver sustainable building refurbishment, minimise embodied carbon, and fulfil such a project with the most difficult site-access conditions’, said the judges.

York Guildhall was crowned overall Building Performance Champion in what the judges declared to be an ‘even more keenly contested than usual’.

« Back to Latest news