Client: The Welsh Government
Architects: Richard Rogers Partnership
Main contractors: Taylor Woodrow Construction Ltd
Structural engineers: ARUP
Joinery: Barrett Ceilings Ltd
Timber suppliers: Ecotimber Ltd

• Certified Western red cedar panelling
• Natural passive heating and cooling ventilation
• Earth heat exchange system
• Wood-fired boiler

The design approach deployed in order to meet the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ target and the Assembly’s constitutional responsibilities for sustainable development, involves a design life of 100 years, the use of indigenous materials, minimal energy consumption and waste, the application of renewable technologies and the ability to use the building as a sustainability ’exemplar’.

This approach has yielded an environmental design which uses natural ventilation and passive systems to heat and cool the building which will reduce running costs by 30-50%.

Central cooling is provided by an earth heat exchange system, while a wood-fired boiler generates efficient carbon neutral heating using locally sourced wood chips or pellets.

The complex roof geometry incorporates six elliptical domes, whose undulating contours are covered internally by a slatted Western red cedar panel lining. Constructed directly over the debating chamber and continuing up to the roof level, is a stunning 12 metre high ‘funnel’ structure, also clad in pre-formed cedar panels that exactly follow the profile of the structure.

Western red cedar was selected both for its appearance and its flexibility once the individual slats were fabricated into panelised form - some of the panels were required to ‘flex’ to a radius of less than one metre. By laminating together a variety of cedar thicknesses, the entire installation was completed without the use of visible fixings.

A total of 60,000 linear metres of cedar was used on this 4,000m2 project, all of which was supplied under the FSC chain of custody certification scheme through a specialist Cardiff-based company.