OVAL VILLAGE

THE PROJECT

Oval Village is a new large mixed use development located in zone 1 of London, with views over the Kia Oval Cricket Ground and London’s iconic skyline, and just a short walk from the River Thames, bars, restaurants, award winning parks and several tube stations. A Berkeley development, accommodation features stunning 1-3 bedroom apartments, accompanied by excellent on site amenities such as 24-hour concierge, workspace and lounges, gymnasium and swimming pool, hydro-pool and private cinema. 170,000 square feet of commercial space is also contained within the development

THE CHALLENGE

With the new Building Regulations, Part O coming into force in 2022 to address overheating in dwellings, all new build properties must be designed to limit unwanted solar gains within summer months and provide adequate means of quickly removing excess heat from indoor environments.

Approved Document O provides technical guidance on how to achieve this; for example, through optimising glazing, maximising window openings and solar shading. It prioritises passive ventilation solutions, such as opening windows, but there are instances when this is neither desirable, nor practical. In urban developments, understandably it may not be considered safe to leave ground floor windows open at night. Furthermore, external noise and pollution from, for example, road and rail transport, may be an issue and one which a developer has no control over. Located in the heart of London, Oval Village has these issues to contend with, plus higher temperatures than in other parts of the UK as a result of the Urban Heat Island effect which frequently sees London temperatures up to 10°C warmer than neighbouring rural areas1.

The consultant on the development looked at the acoustics, the air quality and overheating when starting out on the detailed design, and did a comparative between all three. To naturally ventilate, the in-room acoustic criteria set out in Approved Document O must be achieved with windows open at night. For apartments that would not meet the noise criteria, an alternative solution had to be found in the form of mechanical ventilation.

Cooling technologies for individual apartments impacted by overheating where looked at. While split systems with fan-coils are a tried and tested option, they weren’t universally suited to all apartments in the development. Such cooling systems come at a premium price and, furthermore, are relatively energy hungry so residents have to have the means to pay to run them. With a number of the apartments at Oval Village allocated as affordable housing, the cost of cooling for the home owner was an important consideration.