( ↓ )

TouchBase Pears, Birmingham, is a pioneering and innovative new build development for SENSE, a national charity that supports deaf-blind people or those who have sensory impairments. The upper floors provide office space with specialist areas on the ground floor including a café, theatre, sensory garden, affordable conference facilities and meeting spaces for community groups for those who have sensory impairments.

Environmental control was based around the exposed heavy-weight thermal mass coupled to an  underfloor plenum supply air system with perimeter trench heating providing excellent thermal comfort year-round, perfectly integrated with the architectural vision for the space. High efficiency rooftop air handling plant incorporating combined heating, cooling and heat recovery from a single heat exchanger system enabled the development of a super-compact central plant area.