Green student residence approved

A £1.6m scheme to provide Cornish students with green accommodation has been approved by planners.

The Architects Design Group (ADG) will provide a four-storey building containing 55 study bedrooms at Cornwall College's campus in Camborne.

A rainwater collection system will be installed to cut the amount of water used in laundry rooms and solar panels will pre-heat the water.

ADG hope to have the building completed by the start of the 2008 academic year.

Project architect David Vickerstaff said: "We are keen to use every environmentally friendly option we can while keeping the building practical - it will be something of a test bed to show what you can do to reduce the carbon footprint of an accommodation unit like this.

"Students are very clued up on this stuff so we hope our ideas will appeal to them as well as proving that a green building can be cost effective and efficient in terms of long term use and initial construction."

The accommodation will be constructed from modular pre-fabricated bedroom pods which would then be assembled on the campus.

According to the design team, this method not only cuts wastage both at the factory and on site, but also means faster results and increased quality control.