Waynflete Quad, Magdalen College
The Beyond Carbon team was appointed as Passivhaus Consultant for the Waynflete Quad student accommodation in Oxford.
Client: Magdalen College, University of Oxford
Location: Oxford
Construction: value: £64m
Building Type: Student residential
Our Role: Passivhaus Consultant
Architect: Stanton Williams
Contractor: n/a
Standard: Passivhaus Classic; Passivhaus Low Energy Building
Status: RIBA Stage 4
Waynflete Quad features a distinctive architectural form, and we worked closely with the architect and structural engineer to coordinate the building fabric and address complex design details.
Our role began at the early design stages and continued through to RIBA Stage 4, where we produced the technical information required for tender. There were many complex design details, particularly around the substructure and façade where we worked to minimise thermal bridging.
Throughout RIBA Stages 3 and 4, we led monthly Passivhaus workshops, supported by our in-house Passivhaus tracker tool. This process enabled us to capture and monitor design issues, assess risks and opportunities, and provide the design team with clear and practical guidance.
A central focus of the project was the ventilation strategy.
A centralised system was designed to serve student bedrooms as well as shared communal areas. To ensure long-term resilience, we identified that peak-lop cooling would be needed to maintain comfort in extreme summer conditions. This was achieved in a simple and efficient way with the inclusion of summer boost ventilation to prevent overheating in areas facing the busy road. Wastewater heat recovery systems were also introduced to reduce hot water demand from showers, as well as a microbore pipework system to minimise losses within the hot water distribution system.
