Premises promises

Low carbon offices raise the bar for refurb and newbuild

Great premises can speak louder for a company’s green credentials than any CSR report. Especially for architects – as witness Sheppard Robson’s £350,000 makeover of its Manchester offices earlier this year.

Refurb specialists Overbury provided locally procured and sustainable materials, including natural wool carpets with recyclable backing, FSC-approved timber, non-PVC (rubber) flooring and low-energy lighting. Some serious number crunching went on as well, to measure, reduce and eventually offset the carbon dioxide emissions of the six-week project. The final picture shows that the embodied energy of materials (from manufacturing) accounted for almost half of emissions. Workers commuting to the site clocked up 13.5%, goods deliveries 4.7%, and waste management 1%. Riccardo Rizzi, Overbury’s environment manager, admits that satisfying such a green-minded client “requires a bit more effort to track and measure emissions and segregate waste”.

Across the Pennines in Leeds, a vast new built-to-let office at Thorpe Park has been rated as the UK’s greenest. Designed by Rio Architects for Innovate Property, the ‘Green Office’ scored 87.55% for environmental performance in the Building Research Establishment’s assessment, beating the record set last year by Scottish Natural Heritage’s impressive headquarters (84%). Its clever design, super insulation, CHP system and rainwater harvesting are expected to bring the building’s annual carbon dioxide emissions down by 80% compared with the average air-conditioned office, and save £1.30 in energy costs per square foot. – Hannah Bullock