Press Releases

Art School Installs Urban Wind Turbine - April 2007

The Glasgow School of Art is making a commitment to renewable energy by installing a Proven Energy wind turbine on the roof of the Newbury Tower building. The School of Art, one of Britain’s leading higher education institutions for the study of Architecture, Design and Fine Art, has spent the last 2 years researching, funding and planning for the wind turbine. They then had to convince Historic Scotland that the environmental impact of the turbine would be minimal in a campus which is centred around Charles Rennie Mackintosh's iconic Art School building.

Dr Tim Sharpe, Co-Director of Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit, explains that their research unit was looking into low energy and sustainable architectural issues which prompted the search for a wind turbine that could potentially be used in housing blocks in Glasgow. It was decided that the Newbury Building would be the ideal location to pilot the idea, and research its impacts and performance. The Newbury Tower is one of the tallest buildings in the city centre, and standing on Garnet hill, has an average wind speed of over 6m/s. The roof mounted installation was overseen by specialist contractor Keith Chapman of KCCC Ltd. Tim continues;

“concerns about appearance and noise of the turbine were raised but now that it has been installed, the common reaction is slightly ironic when I ask people in the street what they think of our wind turbine and they look around and say ‘what turbine’? We decided on using a Proven Energy 2.5kW turbine due to the track record of the local Stewarton based company and the fact that safety was paramount. We found it interesting that some wind turbines were being specified because they were more aesthetically pleasing however for us, reliability, track record and power output was the priority”.

The 500 budding architects in a building opposite the Newbury tower can now take inspiration from this model of building integrated sustainable energy. The inner city installation proves that it is not just rural areas that benefit from wind energy, there can be urban sites with a suitable wind resource. It is hoped that this pilot installation will encourage more housing associations and businesses that it is possible to be city based and still be ‘Green’.

This specific project was supported by the Scottish Community and Householder Renewables Initiative, funded by the Scottish Executive and managed by the Energy Saving Trust, Scottish Power Green Energy trust and Glasgow City Council.

Glasgow School of Art Website: www.gsa.ac.uk

Tim Sharpe: t.sharpe@gsa.ac.uk

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KCCC - Keith Chapman: kcccltd@hotmail.co.uk

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For all media enquiries contact:

Shelagh.mccreadie@provenenergy.com

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Tel: 01560 485 570
Fax: 01560 485 580

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