Green towers are popping up everywhere, boasting laundry lists of green features, and wind turbines seem to be a smart energy option for any tower over 20 stories. Castle House, a new residential tower project designed by Hamiltons of London and located at Elephant and Castle in South London, not only advertises itself as an eco-machine, but will generate its own power on site through a series of wind turbines and a heat and power plant.
Castle House involves the construction of two buildings – a 43-story building rising to 147m above ground level with three 9-meter diameter wind turbines at the top, and an adjacent 5-story pavilion building.

When complete, The Castle House will have 310 apartments and retail units on the ground level. With completion projected for 2009, the residential project is targeting an “excellent” rating under the British EcoHomes certification system. We’re not sure exactly how this rating aligns itself with American LEED standards, but we can promise you we’ll be keeping an eye on the progress and potential success of the power-generating skyscraper. We love the concept behind this project and the idea that such a large-scale urban tower could create such amounts of energy for itself. While windpower has amazing potential, we’re curious to see how this plays out in a dense urban setting and to see if the design gets compromised down the line. Either way, the proposal is promising, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated.
+ Hamiltons