Cambridge’s elegant new mosque has comfort and sustainability at its heart thanks to the involvement of the environmental engineer, Director Mark Maidment, at the project’s inception. Writer Andy Pearson looks at how Skelly & Couch’s creative design worked with the grand scale of the prayer hall to provide natural ventilation and daylighting for more than 1,000 worshippers. 

And that’s not all. The magazine has produced a video in which Mark Maidment takes us through this magnificent building and its innovative environmental features. 

The design intent is that environmental and energy concepts for the building and its integrated services should achieve low carbon emissions with none produced on site. The striking timber construction means that embodied energy is very low; and air source heat pumps used for underfloor heating / cooling also include a dynamic system of direct hot water heating via buffer tanks.

Cambridge Central Mosque is a finalist in the 2019 Wood Awards.