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Work begins on UK's greenest winery |
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27 Sep 2012, 6:31 PM
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Construction has begun at what is thought to be England’s largest and most environmentally friendly winery. The project, at the 600 acre Rathfinny Estate, in East Sussex on the South Downs, will eventually produce about 1 million bottles of sparkling wine a year.
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The multi-million pound winery features sustainable design techniques and the use of innovative low carbon technologies. It has been designed by local architect Martin Swatton.
Mark Driver, the Founder of Rathfinny, said: “Every aspect of the construction of the winery has been designed to produce the highest quality sparkling wine. We have taken an uncompromising approach to ensure that it will be one of the most high-tech and environmentally friendly wineries in the world.”
The design includes 50kW of photovoltaic generation capacity and incorporates a host of energy saving building techniques to enable low carbon production of high quality wines. The investment in renewable electricity will save 16 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.
The cladding of the building uses locally sourced English oak and uses finger joints to ensure there is minimal wastage from the cutting process. Locally grown, English sweet chestnut will be used for the decking.
Composite window frames (a mixture of aluminium and timber frames) are being used to minimise the use of metal in the building. Off-site pre-fabrication of elements of the building will be used in order to reduce materials waste on site during construction.
Swottan, said: “The winery will be built to demanding standards to ensure it complements the beauty of the South Downs National Park while at the same time allowing for the production of the finest quality wines.”
Rupert Seldon, Partner and project manager at construction company Buro Four, said: “The Rathfinny Winery is a unique project and aims set a new global standard for sustainable wine production. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to play a part in creating such a landmark building.”
Top soil excavated during the building process will be re-used while flint, harvested from the Estate’s fields, will also be used in the construction.
The extensive wildflower green roof will match the planting of the surrounding fields and helps the building blend into the national parkland setting as well as contributing to the thermal insulation of the building.
The roof provides significant solar shading to the south and west facades, reducing excessive solar gain and avoiding the need to air condition spaces.
The building has been set into the existing landscape on two sides, reducing external wall area and the potential for direct heat loss through the external envelope. This also helps the winery blend into the landscape and match the roof heights of existing structures.
Wall heights and floor levels have been designed around a ‘gravity’ grape pressing solution. This means that the structure will take advantage of the site’s natural slope with grapes loaded at a high level and juices collected from below – avoiding the need to use energy to pump juice into settling tanks.
A waste-water treatment plant will further reduce the winery’s impact on the environment and the surrounding eco-system. Ground water is being sourced from the Estate’s own bore hole, purified to removed calcium and microbes. The waste water resulting from the wine making process will be treated on site and released safely back onto the land.
Rathfinny is England’s newest and largest vineyard. The initial 50 acres of vines were planted in April this year and the first wines will be available to purchase in early 2014. By 2020, Rathfinny aims to be producing about 1 million bottles of high-quality, bottle fermented, sparkling wine a year. The terroir at Rathfinny is almost identical to that in the Champagne region and the climate is perfectly suited for producing high-quality sparkling wines.
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