St David’s Library, Cardiff

Cardiff, Wales

An impressive six storey, 55,000 sq.ft new build Library located in ‘The Hayes’, in central Cardiff providing quality educational materials, information and entertainment to users of all ages. At street level the library are 3 restaurants.

Our role included development of sustainable engineering solutions to ensure that the building is carbon efficient. The project boasts the latest characteristics in environmental architecture including a green roof which is designed to enhance biodiversity through selection of local native species, provide rainwater retention, reduce heat gain during summer and improve thermal insulation during winter. Other sustainable features include energy and water efficient services, and materials with low environmental impact. The building makes use of geo-thermal coupling via it’s structural piling. Passive technologies have also been incorporated to control the environment and reduce carbon emissions.