space and quality

A "very good" BREEAM rating has been targeted and in order to achieve this a number of environmentally friendly systems have been incorporated into the building design. Generally these focus on achieving a reduction in energy usage and hence carbon emissions. Some of the main features incorporated are:

• A heat pump heating/cooling system (VRV 3-pipe system to allow simultaneous heating & cooling) which utilises a high coefficient of performance (COP) to minimise carbon emissions, ie 1KW of electrical power produces more than 3KW of heating or cooling.
• Solar resistant glazing has been utilised on south & east elevations to limit solar gain and hence reduce the cooling requirement to the building.
• Lighting is controlled via presence detection and daylight linking, hence reducing the amount of time that lighting is on and so reducing energy usage.
• Heat reclaim via thermal wheels has been incorporated into the main air handling plant to reduce the energy required to heat incoming fresh air.
• Extensive sub-metering has been incorporated into the design in order to allow energy usage to be monitored and hence target energy savings.
• A full Building Energy Management System (BEMS) will be provided to allow control and monitoring of all mechanical systems to be easily achieved, thereby increasing the efficiency of the systems operation and flexibility.
• Water usage will be minimised via the use of percussion type low flow taps.
• Variable speed pumps will be utilised on the LPHW heating system that is being utilised to serve core areas and AHU's.