April 2 2008

Robert Gordon University is to be the first organisation in Scotland to adopt a new eco-friendly construction technique in one of its new builds at the Garthdee campus in Aberdeen.

The building is the first phase of the University's £140 million masterplan, and uses a system called Cobiax which employs recycled material in prefabricated concrete slabs, and considerably reduces the carbon footprint of the new build.

The Cobiax system incorporates 30,000 air-filled plastic balls, nearly half of which are produced from recycled plastic, which forms the structural heart of the 2000 m sq three-storey building. Set into prefabricated concrete slabs and covered in situ with a concrete topping, the balls form the hollow centre of a revolutionary floor system reducing the amount of concrete used by 35 percent and the foundation load by 20 percent.

Mike Berry, director of Estates and Property Services at RGU, said: "Environmental sustainability is one of the University's key strategic aims. Our estates masterplan provides an ideal opportunity for us to design and construct iconic buildings which incorporate eco-friendly best practice not only in the construction of the buildings but also in their day-to-day use. Our aim is to set the standard for sustainable buildings for others in the Higher Education sector to follow."

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