Utilising the steep landscape that rolls off the southern fringe of the Combined Universities of Cornwall's Tremough Campus, a state-of-the-art Performance Centre has been built using numerous recycled materials, local workers and energy-saving technologies.

Financed by European Objective 1 money, the Higher Education Funding Council and the Regional Development Agency, the £15.5 million centre in Penryn was needed to accommodate the merger of Dartington College of Arts and University College Falmouth.

It had to provide world-class facilities for music, dance and theatre students, practitioners and researchers, who could rehearse and perform within walls specially designed to absorb and contain the acoustics.

At the same time, the building had to open up to maximise natural light and ventilation, reducing energy consumption and promoting environmental sustainability.

The project team's success at achieving this, using largely local labour, numerous recycled materials and imaginative design, impressed judges at this year's Michelmores and Western Morning News Commercial Property Awards, who named the Performance Centre Eco Building of the Year.

From the outset, sustainability was at the heart of the ambitious development, which had to respect the semi-rural landscape from which it was growing, protect wildlife and minimise energy consumption.

Grainge Architects' design worked with the steeply sloping plot, locating the main entrance on the top floor, leading down to two tiers beneath.

Earth dug out to prepare for the build was recycled as backfill by contractors Leadbitter Construction and other materials were reused onsite.

Paul Nash, project manager for Leadbitter, said: "We minimised the amount of groundworks by reusing earth on site. None of the materials dug out were taken from site, they were all buried down into the foundations and used as backfill."

This significantly reduced the carbon footprint caused by work vehicles and, wherever possible, local workers were employed, helping the building towards its BREEAM excellent rating.

The centre's main entrance sits on the side of the building, but it from the front aspect that you can truly appreciate the scale of the structure, which has a gross floor area of 4,161sq m.

Constructed primarily from a loadbearing concrete and steel frame, it is made up of two substantial linked buildings, each externally clad in differing finishes of slate, render, timber and brick.

Recycled Delabole slate was locally sourced along with Callywith stone from the Cornish quarry.

Windows have been strategically positioned to restrict heat and glare from the sun on the southern edge while letting in light on other sides.

Andrew Asbury, director of estates and development for Tremough Campus Services, said: "The building is solid on the south. We do not want heat flooding into the building because we do not want to have to pump energy into the building to reject that heat."

This controlled use of daylight continues inside where blinds and curtains have been added to doors and windows to provide blackout spaces for performance.

Ceilings are double height to enable lighting and scenery to be suspended from them, while maximising natural ventilation.

In a car park, rainwater harvesting tanks have been installed to collect and recycle rainwater for use in the toilets, and at the bottom of the site a pond collects surplus rainwater before it passes onto a natural flood plain.

Other environmental features include solar panelling and dim lighting sources that have been used around the site to support five bat colonies.

The Rathbone Partnership was also employed to introduce planting that would attract species, and a wildflower roof was planted that is accessible to students.

Internally, a system has been installed that monitors energy use and temperatures. It reads where the most or least energy is being consumed, enabling greater control.

Peter Hooper, Performance Centre technical manager, said: "It is difficult to leave the lights on without us knowing or to turn the thermostat up without us knowing.

"The lights have absence detection."

Open corridors with white washed walls and vibrant floor colours synonymous with Dartington College of Arts, lead to large performance spaces, recording studios, music rooms, theatre and dance studios and rehearsal rooms.

Each area has been designed to maximise space and flexibility, and walls are slightly angled to each other to enhance the acoustics.

As with the external walls, a mix of materials has been used internally to optimise sound quality and minimise breakout.

Mr Hooper said: "I think it is great. It is somewhat under publicised what an achievement it was. Dartington had the same amount of spaces spread across a large estate. To have them all in the same building gives a real atmosphere to the place. "

Adhering to the 16 month schedule dictated by the academic calendar was tough for Leadbitter Construction.

But this was achieved and in October 2010 the first students moved in.

Around 400 students are now studying at the centre, a number that is expected to rise to around 650.

In addition to this, the centre is already being used by the wider community.

Mr Asbury said the centre was impacting on the campus and beyond.

"It has inspired us to do more things around the campus.

"We are building an amphitheatre for the whole campus, that is really inspired by what is going on here. We are putting screens around the campus to bring the campus to life. The guys here are instrumental in helping me to do that.

"The tentacles are beginning to be felt across the whole campus and now also outside the campus walls."

THE TEAM:

Proposed by Grainge Architects Limited

Client: Combined Universities of Cornwall

Architects: Grainge Architects Limited

Construction, design and management coordinator: Turner and Townsend

Cost manager: Gardner and Theobald

Structural consultant: Airey and Coles

Mechanical and electrical contractor: Lorne Stewart

Mechanical and electrical consultant: Hoare Lea and Partners

Building control: JHA Innovation

Landscape: Rathbone Partnership

DDA (disabled) Access: Living Options Devon