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The Art Works

Edinburgh, UK

º£½ÇÊÓƵ is playing a key role in the development of The Art Works – the National Galleries of Scotland’s project to deliver a free-to-visit home for Scotland’s magnificent art that isn’t on display in the National, Portrait and Modern galleries or out on loan.

Located on a brownfield site in the heart of Granton, North Edinburgh, the 11,000m² building will form part of the wider regeneration of the area – one of Scotland’s most diverse yet socioeconomically deprived districts. The aim is to make Scotland’s renowned art collection more accessible than ever before. The new complex will also offer a range of spaces for use by residents and community groups.

The Art Works will be a free-to-visit home for Scotland’s art that isn’t on display in the National, Portrait and Modern galleries or out on loan.

This new, sustainable building will enable the National Galleries of Scotland to care for Scotland’s art to the highest standards and share it more widely.

The Art Works will make Scotland’s art more accessible, with the project shaped through active engagement with the local community.

The largest cultural Passivhaus building in Scotland. The Art Works will support Scotland’s journey to net zero.

A bespoke sustainability framework was developed to establish key targets and principles, ensuring alignment with the organisation’s long-term aspirations.

Challenge

The project aims to bring Scotland’s magnificent national art collection of over 130,000 works, into a single, future-proofed location. The collection is currently stored across several sites which are not fit for purpose and hard to access. Facilities and space are extremely limited, logistics are difficult and the majority of Scotland’s art is completely inaccessible for the public, conservation and research.

The ambition is for the new building to be an exemplar of sustainability, the largest cultural building in Scotland to be built to Passivhaus standards. It will be a robustly optimised building to ensure the longevity of Scotland’s art collection with a clear pathway to net zero operational carbon. Passivhaus is a rigorous energy standard, which is proven to deliver low energy and comfortable buildings, through high standards of insulation and airtightness.

º£½ÇÊÓƵ was engaged to work closely with lead architect John McAslan + Partners, and the wider design team, across a range of specialist disciplines, including building services engineering (MEP), structural engineering, civil engineering, , building physics, Passivhaus, lighting, fire engineering, inclusive environments, security, transport, ecology, acoustics, waste and logistics.

Solution

A bespoke sustainability framework (BSF) was initially developed by our experts to define key sustainability targets and principles to be achieved through all elements of the design, to ensure the best combined outcomes for the project are delivered.

The building has been designed as a series of four north-south linear blocks. They are generally high floor-to-ceiling single storey in the art store areas to accommodate the variety of storage racking systems, with some double storey space to the north, providing offices and plant area at the first-floor level. Front-of-house audience spaces allow for artwork to be exhibited, and to give the public an insight into the workings of The Art Works.

The structural design is conceived to suit the functional storage requirements of the building. The envelope to house storage spaces takes the form of four duo-pitched structures. Corridors link the four structures into a single building, forming a flat valley between the duo-pitched roofs. First floor slabs are inserted as mezzanine levels within the overall structure. A link bridge connects these mezzanines above the main entrance.

Our team contributed to the development of the building’s form, massing, envelope performance and MEP strategies through consultation with all members of the project team. The Art Works is a large and complex building, with very specific environmental conditions and fire requirements, which needed to work in consolidation with the Passivhaus design strategy. Given the bespoke nature of the building, our team engaged with the Passivhaus Certifier and design team to ensure compliance with the Passivhaus Standard.

Design decision-making has been supported by using the Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP), a software tool, which allows very detailed analysis of all aspects of the building impacting energy, carbon and comfort. The PHPP analysis, combined with rigorous third-party certification has been shown to reduce the performance gap, ensuring buildings deliver what is expected.

The selection of the structural system can have a very large impact on the embodied carbon of the building structure. Typically, heavier concrete frames with high design loadings and large spans will have the highest embodied carbon of any framing type. Timber frames with low design loadings and short spans conversely have the lowest embodied carbon. Steelwork and hybrid steelwork and timber frames lie in the middle of these extremes and are often used as a balance to provide both a lightweight structure and achieve long clear spans.

The embodied carbon of the structure is measured using the IStructE calculations and has been tracked for the development at each design stage. Our civil engineers delivered an advanced analysis to minimise the amount of material taken off or imported to the site. This was developed in conjunction with an extensive palette of SuDS (sustainable urban drainage systems) features, to manage the surface water drainage systems in line with the local authority water strategy. This included incorporating a ground attenuation rainwater tank into the design.

Value

The Bespoke Sustainability Framework (BSF) was developed at the outset. The intent was to communicate the sustainability strategy clearly across the design and construction process. The BSF was formed through an iterative process, with reviews of sustainability drivers, precedent studies and peer organisations, stakeholder engagement workshops, and consideration of site opportunities and constraints. This process culminated in a Sustainability Vision, supported by six sustainability themes with associated design aims: Resource Efficiency, Health & Wellbeing, Ecology & Biodiversity, Pollution & Future Climate, Management, and Learning & Engagement.

Given the project’s goal of making art accessible to a wider audience, it has been essential to actively engage with communities throughout the design process. This engagement was facilitated through public consultations and local council meetings. We ensured a diverse range of engineering disciplines were present at these consultations, allowing the public to ask questions and share their priorities, which we then aimed to incorporate into the design.

Additionally, our project leader attended various local council meetings to discuss the design and address any concerns. We also organised workshops using a virtual reality (VR) kit, allowing stakeholders to virtually explore the building and experience its functionality firsthand. This process was highly beneficial, enabling us to incorporate much of their feedback in the design.