Winscombe Community Centre, Somerset

Natural and hybrid ventilation solutions manufacturer Passivent has supplied its Airscoop® roof ventilation terminals and Hybrid Aircool® wall ventilators for a new purpose-built community centre in Somerset, using IES Virtual Environment (IESVE) modelling to create the most efficient ventilation strategy.

The community association’s vision for the new Winscombe Community Centre was to create a modern venue for the Parish to support the whole community. It will provide a place to meet as well as offering space for arts and shows, recitals and music, community markets, exhibitions, exercise classes and celebrations. The contemporary two storey building, designed by Benjamin & Beauchamp Architects and built by main contractor Rigg Construction, replaces three existing temporary buildings on the site.

Passivent worked closely with the project team to devise a ventilation strategy for the new building. The original plans were for four roof terminals, but modelling by Passivent using the IES platform demonstrated that three Passivent Airscoop roof terminals would be sufficient to ventilate the events area effectively. By importing the Airscoop into a model simulation of the building, Passivent was able to accurately configure the operation, carry out a thermal simulation and conduct compliance analysis of the terminals, before designing the complete natural ventilation solution to meet the demands of the new building.

The three Airscoop roof terminals specified for the large events space on the first floor provide natural ‘displacement’ ventilation and are backed up by Passivent’s 15 Year No Leak Guarantee. The base unit of each Airscoop terminal extends into the building to house the insulated internal damper. This design makes installation more straightforward and allows the roof to be made watertight with flashings before the terminal lid is fitted.

In addition, four Passivent Hybrid Aircool ventilators were installed in the facade, complete with external weather louvres, with two units for an activity hall, one for the foyer area and one for the Parish Council office. These Hybrid Aircools will ventilate the ground floor rooms through a combination of natural and hybrid ventilation. The whole system is controlled by Passivent’s iC8000 controller operating on a four-zone system.

Edward Richmond, Head of Sales at Passivent said: “The original design brief required four roof ventilation terminals. Through thermal modelling in IES, we were able to demonstrate that, due to the performance of our Airscoop product, only three of our roof terminals would be needed to ventilate the events space beneath. The community association wanted a space that would support the local people for generations to come and our 15 Year No Leak Guarantee for our Airscoop terminal provides that additional peace of mind.”

Will Halligan, Design Manager for Passivent, commented: “The Passivent Navigator in the IESVE allows users to quickly assess the built-in Passivent product range, rather than manually creating ventilation components and assigning relevant data. This makes it much faster to test different design options and understand their impact on building performance. The Navigator provides structured guidance and default parameters, which ensures consistency and reliability in the results. The step-by-step guide is simple to use and heavily reduces any risk of errors. This means that users can focus on interpreting results rather than troubleshooting the model.”

Glidevale Protect, a sister company to Passivent, also supplied Protect TF200, their external wall membrane on this project, which was used as part of the timber frame structure constructed by Crendon Timber Frame in Ebbw Vale.

To find out more, call 01732 850 770 or email projects@passivent.com. Follow us on LinkedIn to be kept up to date with the latest news.