Thursday, 02 April 2020

The magnificent mosque: an exemplar of low carbon design

Skelly & Couch's environmental engineering innovations at Cambridge Central Mosque, in collaboration with Marks Barfield Architects, are the focus of exceptional praise by the judges of the Civic Trust Awards 2020.

Featuring on the front cover of the newly-published commemorative brochure*, the spectacular place of worship is seen as a game-changer in the built environment's fight against climate change. In response to Cambridge Central Mosque winning the Special Award for Sustainability, John Davies, Head of Sustainability at Derwent London comments on page 10: “As the built environment sector rises to the climate challenge and starts to play its part in the emerging net zero carbon economy, it is imperative the schemes we are designing and delivering today are capturing this zeitgeist and moving the once niche to the norm."

Referring to the environmental and energy concepts for the building, which were developed by Skelly & Couch, he goes on to say: "The Cambridge Central Mosque has clearly embraced an all-encompassing, forward thinking approach with an all-electric heating and cooling strategy, supported by natural ventilation and daylighting set into a CLT building structure."

Judges of Cambridge Central Mosque's additional Civic Trust UK award describes the building (page 26) as “A delightful, uplifting piece of architecture".

Another Skelly & Couch project and winner of this year's Civic Trust AABC Conservation Projects Award is the outstanding Battersea Arts Centre (Haworth Tompkins), described by judges on page 73 as: "An imaginative and fluid project that illustrates the highest levels of creativity combined with fabric repair to deliver an excellent conservation project”.

 

* Download the CTA brochure from the right-hand column of this page

Image: Morley von Sternberg