..The Power Station ..

    Situated in St.Dials, this large impressive three storey construction is known as `The Power Station` and was completed in May 2006.

 .. Construction cost was  approximately �1,000,000 over the budget of �1.800.000 and was officially opened  by Edwina Hart - Welsh Assembly Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration ..

Photographed July 2005

July 2005

March 2006

 .. Construction stages ..

May 2006

The building will be a place for `Meetings, Education Classes, Conferences and Functions` ... it also includes a cr�che

Funding had originally been provided by a �1.000.000 grant  from the Welsh Assembly's Local Regeneration Fund, coupled with �800.000 from The `Rise` Five Counties Learning Network.

The Power Station has been designed as an Eco-Friendly building incorporates several innovative design features, such as Thermal Heating, Solar Panels and Rain Water Harvesting, to utilise and maximise, Mother Nature` resources.

An Environmentally Friendly heating system has been installed, comprising of 10 geothermal bore holes, drilled through the earth to a depth of between 60 and a 100 metres and the resulting heat from the strata at that depth, is extracted by pumping fluid up and down in a continuous circuit.

The `cores` extracted from the drilling of the bore holes will be stored and subsequently put on display in the completed building, showing the geographical history of the Cwmbran valley over millions of years.

.. Eco Friendly features of The Power Station ..

  • 80% lower energy consumption.

  • Use of heat from `deep in the earth` to warm the building

  • No mechanical air conditioning.

  • Computer controlled windows 24 hours.

  • Rainwater harvesting and use in the building.

  • Use of materials from sustainable sources.

Visitors, when entering the reception area of the Power Station can view a screen showing diagrams and data related to the Heating, and Water utilities used within the building.

The hot water for the building is heated in two ways:-

  1. A gas boiler.

  2. By solar energy, collectors on the building's roof send heat into the hot water cylinder.

 

The building receives water from two sources :-

  1. Mains or `Town` water.

  2. Water from rainfall on to the building.

.. Harvested water is not used for drinking but serves other services within the building ..

 It is estimated that a building of this size would use 102.08 cubic metres of water in a month

 During September 2006, this building used 22 cubic metres of this total, 11 cubic metres was from `Town` water and 11 cubic metres has been harvested..

 

.. The building is heated by warming the floors via heating manifolds ..

 The heat to do this is provided by two sources :-

  1. A gas boiler.
  2. A geothermal `heat pump` that uses the substantially constant temperature available in the ground to generate heat for the system.

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