Lion’s new
lease of life
Post-occupancy analysis of Britain’s first A+ rated
office building, the CIBSE award-winning Lion
House, shows that operational performance can
match design intent. Ewen Rose reports
Appleyards
T
he lion has been the symbol of the
Northumberland town of Alnwick since the
Duke of Percy, the Harry Hotspur immortalised
by Shakespeare, took to decorating the place
with statues of his favourite animal in the 14th century.
Lion House, the home of the local Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), opened
12 months ago and subsequently won the accolade of
New Build Project of the Year in the CIBSE Low Carbon
Awards 2009.
Now Defra and its building services design team
from AECOM’s Leeds and Newcastle offices have
been reviewing the building’s first year of operation.
As the first office in the UK to achieve an A+ energy
performance rating, Lion House provides an ideal
point of comparison as it replaced a tired, single-glazed,
1960s office building on the same site and houses the
same staff as the original office.
One critical aspect was the orientation of the new
building, which has no windows on its east and west
facades in order to prevent low-angle summer solar
32 CIBSE Journal July 2009 www.cibsejournal.com
CIBSEjul09 pp32-35 Buildings.indd 32 25/6/09 15:20:50
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