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PROJECT REPORT: COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
EXPOSED
The floor structure is concrete planks, and soffits have been left exposed to provide thermal mass
services. Kept to a minimum. These allow a distance from the floor to the underside of the services of 2.55 metres (on the ground floor with the retained frame). The impression is of openness, coupled with the relative shallow floor plates and the generous glazing, the design has avoided the oppressiveness that is too often associated with limited ceiling heights. Wherever possible, the building uses recycled materials. For example, the upholstery fabric is 100% recycled and half of that is made from marine plastics. Other elements, such as the vinyl used in the kitchens and on the gym floors, have a substantial recycled content. Hayden comments: “Both we and the client are exponents of the re-use of materials”. “Due to the reduction in embodied carbon, this is the correct approach to embrace a ‘circular economy’ mindset”.
The original design was in modular 6 metre bays, and the design team has taken advantage of this in its environmental strategy. Although there is some plant on the roof, most of the climate treatment happens not only on a floor-by-floor basis, but on a bay-by-bay basis. This means that if part of the building – a floor or just a
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bay – is not occupied, then the heating and cooling can be switched off, saving energy. The design services engineer Cudd Bently, who developed the final solution for the M&E services, designed an overall BMS for the building , but much of the control is at a local level. Vents at each floor level draw in naturally cooled air from the lake side of the building, taking advantage of the cooling properties of a body of water. Conditioning is then carried out by the floor-based plant. Hayden explains the integrated ventilation approach further: “Working with the M&E designers at an early stage has allowed us to design a fully integrated solution where architecture and services are working together to create a united low energy solution is fundamental when designing for low energy use.” He continues: “A great example of this is using the lake-side setting to draw in cool air from the waterside into each bay of the floor plates. The pre-cooling provided by the lake ensures we minimise the energy required for conditioning the internal air temperature.”
Solar panels on the roof are deliberately oriented east and west, rather than south.
ADF JUNE 2024
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