Cardiff office building powered by green energy completes major £4m retrofit

The space is being jointly marketed for let by the Cardiff offices of property advisory firms Savills and Knight Frank

A prime Cardiff office building, powered solely by renewable energy, has completed its £4m retrofit. Coal House, formerly known as Dumfries House, on Dumfries Place, has been fully refurbished to create a flexible working space that is partly powered by its own solar panels.

The facility has been redeveloped by property investor and developer Create Real Estate, which is currently in talks with several potential tenants about taking space in the building. Dumfries House, and the adjoining Marchmount House, were purchased by Create in 2021 from Sydney & London Properties.

The 30,000 sq ft building has an energy-efficient heating, ventilation and comfort cooling system, as well as LED lighting, to keep energy use to a minimum. It is fitted with the latest smart building technology to monitor occupancy trends, energy usage and air quality which will enable tenants to easily report how they are meeting their environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets.

There are eight electrical vehicle charging points, communal bikes, bike storage, car parking, as well as a DIY bike maintenance station. The lounge area includes bookable Zoom rooms and meeting spaces that provided shared space for tenants and clients to socialise and collaborate. The building also has an in-house app enabling tenants to book rooms, order food and access the social and events programme.

The interior, designed by creative agency Run For The Hills, includes a wood panelled atrium with coffee bar, concrete-effect flooring and brass industrial-style lighting. Coal House will offer between 3,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft (if one tenant) of space. The building’s previous tenants have exited, including law firm Geldards which in 2020 relocated to a new HQ at the Capital Quarter scheme in Cardiff.

The space is being jointly marketed for let by the Cardiff offices of property advisory firms Savills and Knight Frank.

Ricky Humphreys, director of Create, said: “We are delighted to have given a new lease of life to this once dated city centre office building, creating a highly sustainable, future-fit workplace that will provide an inspiring and attractive working environment with plenty of perks for businesses and staff.

“We set out to achieve an optimal balance between retaining the embodied carbon in the existing building and keeping energy consumption to a minimum, in line with our goal to make Coal House somewhere environmentally conscious businesses would feel proud to be based.”

Kieran Crowe, director and head of net zero buildings at the Low Carbon Alliance, which acted as a consultant on Coal House, said: “Coal House has showcased the ability to achieve net zero in operational status and an impressive EPC A rating through retrofit, by utilising standard fit-out practices alongside technology.

“The building self-generates most of its power needs through rooftop PV and does not utilise any fossil fuels. I hope other developers and property funds can take inspiration from this building and understand that great outcomes for the environment are possible and commercially viable. As members and partners of ��ƵGBC’s Advancing Net Zero programme, we have taken Coal House forward as a leading example of retrofit for net zero.”