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The first French public building labelled Minergie®.

Key dates Design : january 2007 to september 2008Construction : september 2008 to january 2010

Smicton handles the waste of 51 neighbouring boroughs having a combined total of more than 74 000 residents. The project illustrates the desire of the Trade Union Committee (Comité Syndical) and locally elected representatives to build an exemplary waste disposal and recycling plant to cover many issues - technical, environmental, energy, and social.

Introduction

Saint Brieuc

Quimper

Vannes

Rennes

Javené

Smictom du Pays de Fougères

Overview - Photo © Pays de Fougères

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ContextThe capacity of the old waste disposal plant at Fougères had reached its limit and there was an urgent need to move to a new location to centralise all the activities of the Smictom region. The Chair of the union and the local representatives decided to manage the project under the High Quality Environmental standard (HQE). The construction should, in effect, be coherent with the message conveyed to residents (sorting recyclable waste, waste reduction etc). The High Quality Environmental standard (HQE) helped them fix their design objectives, namely: • Limit the building’s footprint, while anticipating a possible extension. • Provide an efficient building with greater energy production than

requirements. • Utilise and collect rainwater. • Very little environmental impact during the demolition of the building through the use of recycled or recyclable materials. • Social integration in the operation of the recycling centre. • Cost control of construction.

Building overviewIt was the first French public building to receive the Swiss certification Minergie®.

The building is wooden framed, clad with local, rough-cut, chestnut. The southern wall is insulated with

Plan © Architecte Liard & Tanguy

French-British collective Libnam3

wood fibre, the exterior walls and interior stud walls are insulated with Metisse® (recycled fibres from textile collections provided by the association «Le Relais»), the foundation beams were insulated with glass foam (or cellular glass) a rot proof product available loose, in granular form, or as rigid panels. The south walls were covered with Lucido®; a process to increase passive solar gain. This choice was made after a visit to Switzerland organised by the association ABIBOIS. The zinc-panelled roof was covered in solar panels. Finally thermal collectors were included to cover some of the hot water needs, whilst a wood-chip burner with a back boiler provided the rest of the hot water needs. A dual flow, heat recovery system provides very efficient ventilation. The building makes full use of water-saving materials.

Technical Focus :Lucido®The solar facade, Lucido®, absorbs and stores solar energy to create a warm buffer between the building and the ambient temperature, reducing heat loss from walls.

This solar facade is composed of solar glass (typically 4 mm), a 16 mm air gap, a 40 mm thick wooden heat absorber (typically larch or fir) and an insulating wall. This technology makes use of the «phase-change» qualities of wood accumulated by

Timber frame - Photo © SMICTOM

Lucido®

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the greenhouse effect. «Phase-change» denotes the time it takes for heat to travel from the outside to the inside of a building, passing through the insulation.

The sun’s rays heat the wooden heat absorber and travel through the wall in 4 to 12 hours, according to the supplier. The heat then penetrates into the inside of the building.

The procedure allows a reduction in heat loss on sunny days during winter, while performing its role as an efficient insulation on other days.

This system was not problematic to install. However, it is expensive, requiring a specialised consulting firm to «fine tune» the process. Furthermore, the different elements of the system are made in Switzerland. Despite the technical qualities of the system the architect has never reused it in any further projects.

Barriers and solutionsAt the organizational and human level : The building was built between 2008 and 2009. At that time, the principle and techniques of air tightness were little understood, even misunderstood. Experience has shown that air tightness tests and dynamic thermal studies should be done by people independent to the actual project.

The project owner and project supervisor were lucky to work with a team leader from the company Volutique (a plasterboard (or drywall) craftsman) who filled the role of foreman on a continual basis. He was very demanding on his colleagues and equally as demanding with the other trades.

On the technical side : This project was in advance of national

Luccido® wall - Photo © Pays de Fougères

French-British collective Libnam5

requirements and it was not always easy to make technical choices. Because of the number of consulting firms involved, advice differed on the effects and expected results of technical solutions. This project remains a forerunner of “new” technologies and techniques, as well as the requisite level of air tightness.

As for water saving, TRIVALOR (consulting firm) proposed to recapture the water used as the 2nd wash for lorries and then use this water as the 1st wash during the following clean. The idea was abandoned because of the amount of organic material in the water and the high level of chemical impurities.

On the regulatory and insurance level : The companies signed a «Green Site» charter «Chantier Vert». «Green Site» agreements are

principally a means to manage the environmental impact generated by the different activities on site (waste management, noise reduction, etc.). This charter was hard to manage alongside a Common Costs Allocation system «compte prorata».

Training : Training was provided by Olivier Clerc, of the company EVALYS (blower door tests), to raise awareness among the craftsmen on site. During the design and planning stage he focused on sensitive issues. After the construction phase the checks put into place allowed errors and oversights to be corrected. This method is very effective and educational.Mr Liard, the project supervisor, also came to the site to explain to the workmen the ideas behind the working principles of the building, to heighten their awareness and try to influence their future behaviour.

Timber cladding - Photo © SMICTOM

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Energy results of the space heated in kWh/m2/year 2010 2011 2012

Electricity used 18 19 20

Electricity produced 33 30 29Heating used (wood) 28 27 20

The results of the building during the last 3 years, all forms of energy included, is positive. It produced 5 kW/m²/year. The solar energy production was lower than estimated by the initial studies (54 kWh/m²/year) and suffers a slight but steady decline due to the malfunction of some panels.

Performance

Electricity consumption increased with the addition of a garage and an area to dry work clothes. Initially, the idea was to recuperate the heat from the boiler room and the room containing the inverters, situated beside the laundry room but fire regulations prevented the installation of this system. As a consequence electric tumble

The feedback : The organisation of the building was designed in the interests of comfort, ease of use and energy efficiency. Unfortunately, the practical and functional side between different services was not sufficiently taken into account.

The hot water pipe network is very long due to technical reasons (the position of the wood burner at one extremity of the building), and as a consequence it is necessary to run the water for a long time before getting hot water from the tap.

The distribution manifolds for the heating system were positioned within one of the offices, which in consequence is often overheated.

The lighting is «user friendly» (motion detectors, brightness control depending on the ambient light) but the bulbs used (compact fluorescent) were not adapted to short cycles of use, which in turn increased the budget devoted to them. The automation of lighting deprives the user of responsibility.

The linoleum flooring, laid in the technical / working areas, was not

Energy results

a wise choice because it is not adapted for trolley use, safety shoes, and small stones.

In an innovative project of this type, there is the need of a project supervisor who is both technically and politically motivated.

French-British collective Libnam7

StakeholdersProject owners : SMICTOM du Pays de FougèresProject supervisor : Architecte DPLG : LIARD & TANGUY (Rennes)Site coordinator : ECC Engineering (Saint Ave)Consulting firm (Electricity, plumbing, heating, and liquids) : ECC EngineeringConsulting firm (Reinforced concrete) : EDSBAT (Surzur)Building surveyor : Qualiconsult (Saint Grégoire)Consulting firm (Carpentry) : Synergie bois (Cholet)Quantity Surveyor : Cabinet BAGOT (Rennes)Consulting firm (Roads and utilities) : B31 (Nantes)Health and Safety : ECIE ( Fougères)Blower door tests : Evalys ( Brest)Consulting firm (Thermal + feasibility studies) : Inddigo (Nantes)Structural work + interior joinery : Heude bâtiment (Ernee)Timber framework : SAS Belliard Frères (Gorron)Metalworking – Locksmithing : SMIO

(Fougères)Wooden cladding : SCOB (Mordelles)Insulation, plastering, studwork : Volutique (Melesse)Roofing (zinc-waterproofing) : Quemard SAS (Langueux)Flexible floor coverings : Pinto (Fougères)Subcontractor (photovoltaic cells) : Facilasol (Dol de Bretagne)Glued floor coverings, tiling : Leblois (Saint James)Decoration (Painting – Wallcoverings) : Pinto (Fougères)Heating, ventilation, hot-water solar panels : Galle SAS (Romagne)Furniture - Seats (amphitheater) : Mussidan sièges (Mussidan)Electricity (low current) : Lafosse électricité (Torigni sur vire)Solar facade : IC Bois (La Gouesnière )Roads and utilities, landscaping : Sotrav (Fougères)Cleaning : Breiz services Fougères (Fougères)Plumbing, sanitary equipment : Galle SAS (Romagne)Suspended ceilings : Volutique (Melesse)

dryers were put in place. Even so, the electricity produced remains significantly higher than the electricity used.The comparison between the thermal studies and the energy bills is complex to work out because certain areas cannot be separated (for example the wood heating system also supplements the thermal collectors during the heating of the hot water). Nevertheless we can do the following analysis :The heating needs estimated, from the thermodynamic simulations, were 28 kWh/m²/year. In practical

terms the actual consumption was less. The decrease in 2012 is misleading because the silo was still full at the beginning of the heating season. This naturally «increases» the heating needs of 2011 and «decreases» those of 2012. The year 2010 was mild compared to the previous 2 years which explains the notable decrease in heating needs.Rainwater represents ⅔ of the total consumption. The biggest use of this rainwater was during the washing of the dumper trucks. The rainwater was collected and stocked in two underground reservoirs each 22 m³.

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Costs Project supervisor : £344,721Roads and utilities, landscaping : £871,959Structural work : £419,610Interior joinery : £144,512Timber framework : £481,620Metalworking – Locksmithing : £203,404Wooden cladding : £312,954Insulation, plastering, studwork : £264,884Roofing (zinc-waterproofing), Subcontractor (photovoltaic cells) : £888,028Flexible floor coverings : £27,431Glued floor coverings, tiling : £29,422Decoration (Painting – Wallcoverings) : £42,799Heating, ventilation, hot-water solar panels : £158,925Electricity (low current) : £195,337Solar façade, Exterior joinery : £221,248Cleaning : £3,396

Plumbing, sanitary equipment : £95,439Suspended ceilings : £23,074Seats (amphitheater) : £12,686

These invoice amounts includes the construction of the headquarters of SMICTOM waste disposal and the recycling plant. Each invoice would need to ensure the construction of the two facilities.

Surface area : 3026 sq m

Total without charges : £3,879,638Giving a cost of £1,282 per sq m

Total with charges included : £4741449Giving a cost of £1,566 per sq m

Landscaping - Photo © Pays de Fougères

ContactPays de Fougèreswww.pays-fougeres.org