A stunning new £60 million operations centre for Severn Trent Water in Coventry provides a shining example of how Birmingham-based Stoford Developments is leading the sustainable revolution in the office market.
Despite recent research from Building Magazine and the Energy Saving Trust suggesting that green buildings will suffer in a downturn, Stoford and its partners are committed to completing in August 2010 a building with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the 海角视频.
According to the industry survey, 88 per cent of respondents said that green buildings would be affected by the economic climate, and 55 per cent said that clients were asking them to drop sustainable elements.
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Stoford Director Jon Andrews said: “Our blue chip and public sector clients are all maintaining high environmental requirements for new buildings. They recognise the potential reduced running costs from creating low-energy buildings and the possibility of future property tax being linked to environmental construction and operation standards.
“All our sustainable schemes meet the needs for corporate occupiers to adopt greener business practices and to attract and retain a new generation of environmentally aware staff.”
The company, which won the Bank of Scotland regional entrepreneur of the year title, together with £10 million of interest-free funding last year, has achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘excellent’ recognising the highest standards of sustainability for its Severn Trent office scheme.
After teaming up with Coventry City Council, Advantage West Midlands, Associated Architects, Webb Gray, engineering consultants ESC, and builders BAM Construction, Stoford is already ahead of schedule in delivering the city centre building.
With all parties committed to its successful completion, the iconic 170,000-sq ft seven-storey building is currently making its mark as one of the country’s largest excavation projects.
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In laying the foundations and creating the base of its three-storey underground car park, more than 40,000 cubic metres of soil have been removed from an area 70 metres square and 8.5 metres deep. The supporting secant piled wall, with its capping beam to take the load of the main tower, represents such a feat of construction it is nominated for a British Structural Engineering award.
The new operations centre itself is set to be so eco-friendly that it will act like an envelope in protecting its 1,700 occupants from the effects of extreme weather conditions and pollution.
The concrete structure will provide thermal mass, absorbing the increasing summer temperatures expected with climate change to help create a comfortable working environment.
High performance glass windows, a brise soleil window shade and motorised louvres following the path of the sun will also limit solar heat gain and reduce glare on computer screens while allowing in more daylight.
The low-maintenance offices are to be ventilated by central air handling plant, removing the need for a high-energy-consuming air conditioning system, while an electronic power management system will power the ventilation, lighting and heating, reducing dependency on mains electricity.
The sustainable building will also benefit from its central city location, with ease of access to all transport and amenities, and the ecology will be improved with a surrounding landscaped public space. It will even incorporate an eco-friendly biomass boiler fuelled by wood chippings from Severn Trent’s own forestry, as well as a meter to minimise water use.
Stoford Director David Brown said: “This development will provide a stunning example of how to minimise the impact of a building on the environment and for its occupants and visitors to participate in saving energy.”
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Coun Ken Taylor, Leader of Coventry City Council, commented: “Coventry is undergoing its most exciting period of transformation in many years and this fantastic development, with all its green credentials, will help us set a new standard.”
Stoford is also masterminding the development of a new £75million business quarter at All Saints in West Bromwich. The development, being master-planned by Glenn Howells Architects, will be built in collaboration with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, local regeneration company RegenCo, and the development agency Advantage West Midlands, which has committed £14 million to the project.
Stoford has already pre-let to BT a new 120,000 sq ft building for the 245,000 sq ft first phase of the 270,000 sq ft BREEAM-excellent rated regeneration scheme, effectively anchoring its development.
The developer has secured detailed planning consent for the building, the design of which follows the same high environmental standards it has set for the Severn Trent offices including the achievement of a BREEAM excellent rating, with building work due to start on site this summer.
Elsewhere Stoford is developing a new £35 million mixed-use scheme for Stafford town centre that has gained an A-rated energy performance certificate in addition to a BREEAM rating of excellent.
The developer has pre-let 135,000 sq ft of the office floor space in the scheme to Staffordshire County Council, ensuring delivery of this important regeneration project over the next two years.
Architecturally exciting and in keeping with the historic town’s heritage, the ground-breaking development will feature 17,000 sq ft of shops and cafes and a new 145,000 sq ft council headquarters that will bring around 2,000 staff from other properties under one roof when complete in April 2011.
Stoford Director Jon Andrews said: “Stoford remains committed to delivering sustainable office schemes for major national clients.
“We believe that the challenging economic climate provides an opportunity for us to achieve better value through the procurement process, which in turn enables us to continue to deliver high standards of environmental sustainability within our schemes. “