The new, seven-storey, 7,500m2 Living System building, known as LSI, has been designed to embed inter-disciplinary research practice and will house 29 research groups, of more than 200 researchers, with complementary expertise in biosciences, medicine, physics, engineering, mathematics and computer science. LSI is expected to open to researchers and students in the autumn of 2016.
British installer Solarsense, took up the challenge of achieving a very high yield target using two sections of flat roof in partnership with local freelance design engineer Marley Bursell. Solarsense have been known to hit the headlines in several occasion since its establishment in 1995. Among the pioneers of the British solar industry, Solarsense list more than 10,000 renewable energy installs across the country and have received an outstanding number of awards for quality and innovation.
The roof features a number of elements which add to its complexity, such as vents and a chiller compound. Careful design considerations led to the conclusion that the best possible set up should feature the high efficiency Sunpower E20/327Wp panels to achieve optimal power density. Panels are fitted at a pitch of 15° to achieve the best balance between space use, yield and ballasting weight. BlackMagic optimisers were specified for two sections of the plant, in order to harvest the maximum string output even where shading elements are going to affect some panels during some hours of the day.
