CLIENT
Raynsway Properties
YEAR COMPLETED
2011
BUILD TYPE
New Build
SERVICES PROVIDED
Building Physics
Carbon Management
Flood Risk
Foundation Option Appraisal
Geotechnical Engineering
Structural Engineering
Surveying
Sustainability Consulting
Sustainable Buildings Design
Transport Planning
Interserve's office at Watermead Business Park was the first Carbon Negative PassivHaus Accredited office building in the UK. BWB was engaged as part of the design team formed by Interserve/Raynsway to undertake the feasibility of designing and constructing a Passivhaus Approved commercial office. Key aspects of the process were to translate the space requirements of the design into a structural form that would contribute to the requirements of Passivhaus.
The total energy use for the building was predicted to be around 25% of the current UK best practice guidelines. Heating demands alone are around one-fifth of current UK Building Regulations. This was achieved by adopting the principle of introducing all of the key occupancy comfort elements as naturally as possible within the shell of the building. Once occupied, the building tenants saw the opportunity to take the building to the next level in terms of energy efficiency. By offsetting the very small energy use with a relatively modest roof mounted photovoltaic array, they have now made the building carbon neutral. There will be NO energy costs for the building and they will, in fact, receive an income of £2,500 per annum from the Feed-in Tariff.
