BREEAM, Europe’s leading green building rating system, has just given the new PriceWaterhouseCooper office tower its highest rating of “outstanding”. This is a first for an office building this size in the UK and speaks to how corporations are embracing green building on both sides of the pond.
Similar to the USGBC’s LEED certification, BREEAM uses a point system that covers a multitude of sustainable building issues such as reductions in water and energy use, increasing natural lighting and fresh air, the use of recycled materials, and placement. Located on the south bank of the Thames near city hall, 7 More London is a half-million square foot building distinguished by an energy conservation rating 70% above building code. The trick to the building’s impressive ratings was using daylighting paired with advanced HVAC and solar technologies.
A major innovation is how the structure uses waste heat from its air conditioning system to heat the building parameter. It may seem counter intuitive, but large buildings often have to cool the interior and provide heat near the windows at the same time. The owners also claim to produce 25% of the building’s energy onsite — that’s a big number and we’ll see if they can pull it off. The use of solar thermal panels and onsite energy generation using recycled cooking oil will help.
+ PriceWaterhouseCooper Tower
Though not ordinarily a corporate modern aficionada, can’t help but be thoroughly impressed with PWC office tower. A definite “WOW!” in my book re: both green design and facade. Thanks for featuring!
An important first for the UK and the project team.
Good to see BREEAM being taken up, but that’s just the start of a bigger design/build conversation…and one which has already evolved well beyond BREEAM, and even beyond LEED which both set (IMHO)minimal standards.
Soon to arrive in the UK is the Living Buildings Challenge, an impressively integrated and conceived standard which seeks to MAXIMIZE impacts, but in a restorative manner. This is the future
http://bit.ly/9sz2Ld