Of 247 applications from around the world, 45 national and international projects were rewarded with a Civic Trust Award or Commendation, in this the 58th year of the prestigious scheme recognising outstanding architecture, planning and design in the built environment. Skelly & Couch provided full building environmental and services engineering at the £10m Brighton College Music School working in collaboration with Eric Parry Architects.

The firm's site-wide energy masterplan for the College gave recommendations for rationalisation to achieve energy savings and phased plant replacement and renewables. Mechanical ventilation has been designed to stringent acoustic criteria, while maintaining comfort.  

An analysis of energy strategy options led to the implementation of an open loop borehole installation designed to serve this development and future new buildings on the site. A new central plant room allows for existing buildings to benefit from renewable heat and an extensive daylight/solar analysis will ensure that glare and overheating are eliminated.

The EPC ‘A’-rated development has achieved a BREEAM sustainability rating of ‘Excellent’, with innovation credits for greywater reuse.