Our Building, Fabric and Materials
ACC Liverpool prides itself on being one of the greenest venues in Europe, and is the only BREEAM accredited venue in the UK. From the first days of our development a raft of innovative environmental measures were built into the design to reduce by half the building’s CO2 emissions.
The building itself was designed to look like a butterfly landing on the water, and built below ground level to maintain the stunning view of the Liverpool waterfront and World Heritage Site from the river and Wirral peninsula. Twenty years ago a building like the ACC Liverpool wouldn’t have been possible – it’s the use of modern building techniques CAD and computer modelling that styled the ACC’s smooth curves.
Experts were brought in throughout the process, to offer advice and innovations for everything from the exterior materials to the seating, acoustics, lighting and electricity supply. Lights in the building are fitted with motion sensors to reduce ACC’s electricity consumption, which is part provided by five turbines on the banks of the Mersey, between ACC Liverpool and the Albert Dock.
The roof is ACC Liverpool’s largest single component; partly because of its size and partly because of its position: air rises upwards, and the roof is hit by the sun’s UV rays. The roof’s construction is like double-glazing, effectively, relying on the insulating properties of the air trapped in the middle for warmth, and is 40mm thick.
Each pane of glass used is specially cut; only 22 of the total panels are interchangeable and a fretwork on the outside means you can’t see in to the building, but can see out. If you look at the glass on the meeting room spaces it looks paler than the glass on other parts of the building – this is because there are fewer dots in the fretting there, so people inside get a clearer view out.
The dark, top section of panelling above the glass is made from a steel composite, providing a rain screen around the building. Not only does the surface have to look good in its spot next to the World Heritage Site but the metal has to fend off the abrasive effects of sand and the corrosive effects of salt; it’s not easy building to withstand a maritime environment...
Not all of the building is double-glazed, either. The area around the Echo Arena’s concourse is single-glazed as it’s unheated and doesn’t need temperature control. It’s what’s known as a ‘transient space’ – people don’t hang around there for long, so not heating the area reduces energy consumption. Any warmth in the area comes from ‘solar gain’ – directly from outside, again reducing fuel consumption at ACC Liverpool. The BT Convention Centre on the other hand is double-glazed – and triple-glazed in some places – as the areas there are inhabited most of the time.
The roof of the Galleria – which links the Echo Arena with the BT Convention Centre – is of the same construction as the Eden Project’s roof – twin sheets of plastic blown up with air, which allows the building to stay warm in winter and cool and cool in summer without artificial heating or air conditioning. The plastic is made from ETFE – like a plastic bag – which not only provides an energy efficient roof, but which gives the flexibility needed for the distinctive eye-shaped roof sections; glass would not only have been more expensive, it would have proved much harder to mould into shape and wouldn’t have been such a good insulator either.
Rainwater harvesting on the roof of the Echo Arena also fills two giant 19,000 litre tanks, which in turn supply 40% of the water used for flushing toilets across the venue.
But we’re not resting on our laurels. We won’t be the greenest venue around forever unless we continue to develop; ours is an ongoing process of sustainability, constantly aimed at making the business greener and cleaner.