Urbanism
Environment
Design

info@urbed.coop

Opened by Manchester Corporation in 1906 Victoria Baths is an iconic and very special building. The challenge of recommissioning the baths led the Trust to commission us to develop a low carbon heating strategy.

Our proposed strategy for Victoria Baths has six main elements which we have developed into a phased plan which could reduce its CO2 emissions by 80% compared to a swimming bath of the same age.

Protect the building fabric Where possible the strategic should seek to protect the building fabric from any further deterioration - for example, from damp penetration.

Make further fabric improvements Where possible further opportunities to improve the u-value should be implemented, working within restrictions of the buildings heritage status.

Respect and re-use original building services Where possible original features of how the original building services were designed should be re-used, such as the use of natural ventilation.

A modular approach to heating and ventilation The heating strategy should be capable of being implemented in modules as different parts of the Baths are brought back into active use.

Use of best practice in energy management Once parts of the Bath are back in use recognised best practice should be used to optimise the running of the heat systems and minimise energy use.

On-site zero carbon heat sources Whilst the heating system should be designed to initially use natural gas, it should be possible to upgrade the primary heat source to zero carbon technologies installed on/in the original boiler house.