Quarantine House - Kew

A specialist state of the art containment and biosecurity glasshouse facility to provide vital quarantine facilities to protect the collections at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew from disease and destruction

The facility employs the following containment features:

•    Double glazing to provide full containment security

•    Individual, isolated bays with precise controllable climates for temperature, relative humidity, day length and light levels

•    HEPA filtered air change to maintain negative air pressure (pre-set to CO₂ levels)

•    Facilities to permit fumigation to counteract pest or disease outbreaks

•    Contained drainage to ensure waste water is sterilised

•    Secondary containment bunding system throughout

The facility also contains the following energy saving features:

•    Efficient double glazing and external shade blinds system to minimise heat loss/gain

•    Efficient ventilation to recover heat from the extracted air

•    High efficiency internal and external lighting

•    Energy management system

•    Heat and coolth sink tanks to store surplus heat from the cooling system and provide heat for the building on demand. The tanks ensure continued operation of the glasshouse in the event of mechanical failure and enable a reduced chiller capacity utilising off-peak and CHP electricity.

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Construction commenced in July 2010, and on 14 September 2011, the new Kew Quarantine Unit was opened by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Richard Benyon MP.

£3.5m

Quantity Surveyor / Project Manager - Fanshawe

Architect - Wilkinson Eyre

Building Services - Skelly and Couch

Structure - Michael Barclay Partnership

Contractor - Unigro