dssr-Paul

CIBSE: “Low Carbon Consultants (LCCs) have been certified by CIBSE to be competent in minimising energy use and carbon emissions from buildings in design, operation and simulation. The training programme enables them to go beyond the current legal minima in improving the energy performance of both new and existing buildings.

“Clients can be assured that buildings designed and operated by LCCs will meet the requirements of Approved Document L Volume 2 2021 and Building Control Officers can be assured that compliance is being signed off by suitably qualified professionals.”

As a Low Carbon Consultant Energy Management Systems Specialist, Rachel can:

• Establish, implement, maintain and improve an energy management system
• Develop energy management systems processes and procedures
• Improve energy performance in a systematic way
• Ensure that it conforms with its stated energy policy & demonstrate such conformance to others

“We would like to congratulate Rachel on achieving this qualification, which demonstrates many of the skills she has developed over the past 7 years at DSSR, and we look forward to seeing where she goes next.”

– Fiona Williamson, Regional Director

If you have any queries or wish to discuss with Rachel how she can support your project, please do not hesitate to contact us via our Contact Us page.

DSSR colleagues from our Building Performance Modelling team recently visited Civic House–Scotland’s first retrofit ‘PassivWareHaus’–as part of Glasgow’s ‘Doors Open Days Festival’ which offers people a unique chance to get a peek inside an array of Glasgow’s most interesting buildings.

On the doorstep of the DSSR Glasgow office at Speirs Wharf, Civic House was once a printing press for worker activist groups in the early 1900s. It was recently transformed into a modern, ultra-sustainable co-working space, featuring a canteen and events hub.

Civic House is an interesting case study for sustainable approaches to repurposing industrial buildings and addressing how vacant spaces can be repurposed and modernised.

Following its extensive refurbishment, Civic House has a new lease of life as a vibrant commercial and leisure space.

Delivered by Agile City, a non-profit and community interest company, it is an excellent example of how to adapt and reuse previously derelict spaces, avoiding the embodied carbon cost of new construction and demonstrating carbon reduction innovation.

Studies have shown that it takes between 20 and 50 years for a new building constructed to the last Part L standards to overcome, through efficient operations, the negative climate change impacts related to the construction process.

As such, applying a targeted holistic approach to the refurbishment of an existing building allows the re-use of existing resources whilst minimising the impacts of climate change.

Carina McKinney, DSSR Lead for Building Performance Modelling: “At DSSR, we thrive to learn from our direct surroundings; having a building on our doorstep, designed to EnerPHit standards, was a great opportunity to learn first-hand from the people who were involved in the refurbishment process.

“For refurbishment projects like this, it’s not always possible to achieve a Passivhaus standard, and so the Passivhaus Institute has developed the ‘EnerPHit’ certificate to recognise structures retrofitted with Passivhaus components to achieve a high energy performance standard.

“One of the things I found particularly interesting was that air-tightness testing was carried out at the outset of the refurbishment process–not just for the finished product–in order to understand the quality of the existing wall structure, which in turn informed the insulation process.”

Congratulations to Regional Director, Fiona Williamson, who recently celebrated reaching the incredible milestone of 25 years working under the banner of DSSR.

Fiona began her career with DSSR straight from university in 1998, and in time was promoted to Senior Engineer in 2004, Associate in 2007, and has been a Regional Director since 2020. A Chartered Engineer and the Sustainability Lead for DSSR, Fiona manages a multi-disciplinary team based in our Glasgow office which has a particular expertise in sustainable building design.

As the Sustainability lead for the company, Fiona keeps abreast of the current energy and sustainability policy, legislation, industry updates and such, applicable to our business, to ensure the company is informed of all relevant requirements.

Fiona is also a Member of CIBSE, Low Carbon Energy Assessor LCEA (Scotland), BREEAM Assessor (NC & RFO), BREEAM Advisory Professional (AP), and CIBSE Heat Network Consultant.

History of Fiona

During her early school years, Fiona wanted to be an Architect. Driven by a love of Lego, drawing, and buildings she found herself led in that direction. Over time, she developed a particular aptitude for more technical subjects, such as maths and physics, and was encouraged to consider the field of engineering.

Fiona later undertook an Undergraduate Degree course at Strathclyde University called ‘Building Design Engineering’ as it covered a variety of building elements including Architecture, Structural Engineering, and Environmental Engineering. She particularly enjoyed Environmental Engineering–in particular Sustainable Building Design–and completed her honours degree in this subject.

Following graduation, Fiona began to look at Building Services Consultancies who, even in the late 1990s, were involved in the design of sustainable and low-energy buildings. Since graduating, she has been able to use her skills and passion to influence building designs and continues to look forward to the opportunities.

“I have loved being part of the evolution of the construction industry seeing the changes in safety and welfare as well as the continuing challenges of meeting the future needs of our world. I am in a privileged position to have the skills required to help contribute to managing Climate Challenge and this is something of which I am very proud.”

Career with DSSR

Fiona joined DSSR straight from university in 1998, jumping straight into an extensive refurbishment project for the University of Glasgow under the mentorship of DSSR veteran, Chris Marriott.

While at DSSR, Fiona has worked on many iconic projects and buildings. From the University of Glasgow project in her early days, she has worked on the News International presses at London and Liverpool – a £500m project which was the largest DSSR had ever undertaken at the time.

In more recent years, Fiona has continued to develop DSSR’s expertise in Sustainability Consultancy in the Built Environment and our national reputation in this continuously evolving field.

“You are lucky in your life if you meet people who make your life a better place; I consider myself lucky to have known Fiona for 25 years. She has enriched my working life, and I am a better person for having worked with her.”

– Bill Chalmers, DSSR Director

The Building Better Healthcare Awards celebrates achievements in the built healthcare environment. 

Held every November, the Building Better Healthcare Awards are attended by more than 600 industry professionals, providing the perfect place to network and connect with like-minded individuals.

We are a proud sponsor of the 2023 awards and look forward to seeing the best UK healthcare projects of the last year recognised for continuing to drive the healthcare sector onward.

DSSR is a specialist in the healthcare sector, designing energy-efficient building services to support the delivery of a Net Zero NHS. With over 78 years of experience in building services design, specialises in top-notch MEP designs for healthcare. Our expertise benefits both clients and contractors, delivering innovative solutions.

Building services are critical to the operation of any healthcare facility, ensuring the reliability of crucial healthcare equipment.

As a long-term design partner for the NHS, we have a detailed understanding of how to design award-winning healthcare facilities throughout the UK.

DSSR’s successful track record includes complex healthcare projects within live environments, and collaborating with NHS boards and others. We prioritise “Net Zero” NHS targets for reduced waste and emissions.

We’ve achieved net zero carbon in previous projects by boosting energy efficiency, incorporating renewables, and transitioning from gas to electricity-led systems.

DSSR embraces Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) principles, including standardised components and on-site manufacturing, benefiting quality and cost.

DSSR and other members of the Hub North Scotland supply chain recently financed a fact-finding trip for six pupils from Aberdeen to the city’s twin city Regensburg in Germany. Aberdeen City Council is looking to the example of Regensburg as part of the Aberdeen City Vision project to regenerate the city centre and beachfront.

All six pupils have been taking part in consultation events related to the project. They were given the opportunity to experience how the centre of Regensburg successfully developed lively cultural and festival spaces, explore the city’s approach to urban design and place-making, and see how it involves young people in the decision-making process.

The trip helped the pupils from Aberdeen to develop the skills and confidence to act as ‘Young Creative Consultants’ and encourage other young people to take part in Aberdeen’s planning process as it looks to create a world-class city.

Accompanied by members of Aberdeen City Council’s Creative Learning team and engagement consultants streets-UK, the young students travelled to Regensburg in time for its 50th annual Bürgerfest. This is a colourful program of entertainment, culinary delights and music. For three days, the streets, alleys, and squares of Regensburg are transformed into the stage for one of the largest cultural festivals in Bavaria–featuring more than 360 individual events.

As part of the trip, the pupils from Aberdeen met with pupils from a local secondary school. They were provided with a tour of Regensburg by members of the local youth parliament, including co-designed, inclusive play parks and a youth centre.

Hub North Scotland runs the programme management office for the project, which includes several of its supply chain members. Their trip was financed by Currie & Brown, DSSR, Glenmhor, Graham McCorkindale Consulting, Keppie Design, LDA Design, Morrison Media, OP-EN, Savills and Turner & Townsend.

Aberdeen was Regensburg’s first twin city, a relationship that started in 1955. School projects on various current topics, cultural and sports activities and the cooperation of youth associations help the twin partnership to flourish.

The two universities also maintain a close relationship. In recent years, the adult education centre in Regensburg has set up a number of interesting, long-term projects together with the Arts Development Team in Aberdeen. This includes the joint publication of a book in which senior citizens from both cities talk about their post-war experiences – valuable memories that will now be preserved for future generations thanks to this collaboration.

We were grateful to Gordon from the Building Performance Modelling team who led an insightful presentation on Operational Energy in our latest ‘Lunch & Learn’ session.

A growing trend we are seeing in the industry is the need to quantify the predicted in-use energy consumption of buildings, which requires an in-depth level of operational energy modelling–a field of simulation modelling which continues to receive increased industry focus.

We are, therefore, seeing more and more projects where operational energy modelling forms part of the project requirements over and above building regulation energy calculations.

Our Building Performance Modelling Team is currently leading the development of our operational energy modelling skills such as TM54 Operational Energy Assessments, and carrying out operational energy studies across both concept and detailed design stage.

We are planning to provide similar ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions across all DSSR offices in due course.

Click below to read more about our Building Performance Modelling capabilities.

The DSSR team took some time out to visit the Possobilities charity in Possil, Glasgow, to donate £1,500 to our local community.

We are excited to announce that DSSR has donated £1,500 to Possobilities, a local charity that provides support and services to people with disabilities.

We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to live a full and independent life, and we are committed to supporting organisations that are working to make that happen. Possobilities does incredible work, and we are proud to be able to help them continue its mission.

The donation will be used to support Possobilities’ programs and services, including:

• Providing financial assistance to people with disabilities
• Offering job training and placement services
• Providing advocacy and support services
• Advocating for the rights of people with disabilities

We are grateful to our employees, customers, and community partners for making this donation possible. We believe that by working together, we can make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities.

Thank you to Possobilities for all of your hard work and dedication. We are proud to support your organisation.

About Possobilities
Possiblities is a local charity that provides support and services to people with disabilities. We offer a variety of programs and services, including:

• Financial assistance
• Job training and placement services
• Advocacy and support services
• Advocacy for the rights of people with disabilities

Courtesy of Goodson Associates, we can now show the completed de-kit facility we helped to design for Co-operative.

DSSR provided performance duties including establishing concept design, utility applications and planning stage building performance modelling to meet the energy legislative requirements for the COOP new Build De-Kit facility at Newhouse.

The new industrial facility looks immaculate and we are very proud to have been part of the design team.

Click on the button below to read the full case study.

The DSSR team in Glasgow was recently treated to ten-pin bowling!

What followed was a surprising amount of strikes, a respectable amount of spares, and not as many gutterballs as there should have been with the free drinks promotion.

Thank you to the team at Bowlarama for a fantastic event, and the DSSR social committee for organising yet another excellent team building session.

Congratulations to the team winners of Stuart and Paul!

DSSR is pleased to see the application was submitted and validated for a 420,000 sq ft unit at Omega West.

This is the final phase of the 2.2m sq ft scheme, with DSSR acting as building services consultant, following the grant of planning permission by the SoS in November 2021.

DSSR is excited to see the 4th building at the Omega West Development reach this key stage. With a BREEAM Excellent Certification and EPC A rating being key targets that DSSR are helping to deliver, this is expected to be another high-quality development demonstrating best sustainability practice.

– Fiona Williamson, DSSR Regional Director