The existing Abbey and Abbey church is located on a site to the west of Reading. We have completed a new archive store and library to house the abbey’s existing book and manuscript archive. The archive store is designed to meet the requirements of BS5454, and use a passive design to moderate and control the internal environment. The archive includes a high amount of thermal mass to moderate the environment of the space. In addition, the building has a ground source heat pump system to provide both cooling and heating to the space.

We worked closely with the client team to determine the most appropriate plant to condition the spaces. This included a ground source heat pump for space heating throughout the building. A chilled water system is used to provide cooling to the archives to ensure compliance with BS5454.
One of the challenges for the project was managing the humidity levels when the building was drying out. The relative humidity in the archives was closely monitored and temporary dehumidifiers were used to dry the building. During this period it was decided that a permanent dehumidification system would be beneficial so we included a dessicant wheel dehumidifier as part of the final installation.

The building won a Civic Trust Award in 2011 and the RIBA (South East) Regional Award 2012.