The UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) has completed a record-breaking refurbishment of its London office, achieving the lowest embodied carbon footprint ever recorded for a project of its kind in the UK.
The redesign combines a series of carbon cutting measures alongside well-being features to deliver what UK-GBC has described as a space that is both better for people, and better for the environment.
The work has resulted in 139kgCO2/m² leaving an embodied carbon footprint 22% below a comparable “standard” fit-out and the lowest ever recorded in the UK. UK-GBC has also been able to cut emissions almost in half (48%) following changes to lighting, while over 99% of construction waste was diverted from landfill.
Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive of UK-GBC said: “UK-GBC’s purpose is to accelerate the transformation of places so that people and planet can thrive. In refurbishing our own office space, we had a fantastic opportunity to trial and showcase the very best solutions sourced from our membership.
“I’m delighted at the outstanding results we have achieved – both to minimise our environmental footprint and to improve the wellbeing and productivity of our staff.”
Wellbeing measures, including a living wall with over 1,500 plants and other measures to remove pollutants from the air, have been incorporated into the design in order to improve staff satisfaction, productivity and overall health and wellness.
Tom Lacey, director of Barr Gazetas which led the design and delivery team, said: “As well as being a test bed where every component and output has been scrutinised and monitored, the project is an inspiring, healthy and comfortable place to work.
“To have achieved such lofty technical targets whilst making a genuine difference for the people who use the space has been a rich learning experience that will have an effect on all our future work.”
The office will be subject to a post-occupancy evaluation to assess its operational performance against performance factors such as energy efficiency and air quality. Staff satisfaction will be evaluated through ongoing surveys, the results of which will be compared against data collected prior to the refurb.
