Key facts

• BREEAM rating: Very Good
• Score: 56.83%
• Size: 4509m²
• Stage: Design
• BREEAM version: New Construction 2011: Industrial

Overview of environmental features

The key features of the building include:

• Internal blinds – have been provided as part of the tenant’s fit-out to reduce solar heat gains and control glare.
• Lighting controls – passive movement detectors in offices, and individual, dimmable passive movement detector capable of daylight sensing in the warehouse.
• Heat gains – the building is designed to reduce heat gains to the space, reducing the cooling demand and energy consumption of any future installed cooling system.
• Water serving WC areas – cold water serving the individual toilet facilities is controlled by sensor operated solenoid shut off valves that reduce water waste in periods of low occupancy.
• Building energy metering – has been installed on all items to monitor in-use energy consumption, raise occupant awareness and help reduce consumption.
• Rainwater harvesting – a rainwater harvesting tank meets the WC flushing needs of the building.
• Solar thermal panels– located on the south facing roof, are expected to satisfy at least 40% of the building’s annual hot water demand.

The BREEAM assessment

The buildings performed well in the Energy, Management and Waste categories – for example achieving the full available credits for the waste management plan, sourcing of aggregates and the operational waste of the building.

With regards to all other categories and credits the development, maximised on areas that were applicable to the development and strived to meet the criteria. A good example of this was the Water credits achieved through the provision of the rainwater harvesting tank being used for the building’s flushing demand.

Building services

The building’s services engineering systems were designed to exceed building regulations’ target emissions, and to achieve compliance with BREEAM ‘Very Good’. The systems used include:

• An air source heat pump for heating the offices. The system offers full heat recovery with simultaneous heating and cooling to individual spaces. The heat pump system can achieve seasonal efficiencies in excess of 5:1.
• Nox gas fired warm air heaters provide the warehouse with frost protection only. Although essentially an unheated space all fabric elements are insulated to u-values greater than current building regulations’ requirements.
• A 5000 litre rainwater harvesting system provides water for all of the building’s flushing needs.
• A major leak detection system.
• A water recycling and filtration system for pressure washing pallets. The system ensures that 100% of the water used is filtered and reused.
• A dual coil hot water cylinder provides all the building’s hot water. The bottom coil is served by a solar thermal system with the panels located on the south facing roof, it is expected that solar thermal will satisfy at least 40% of the building’s annual hot water demand. A gas fired condensing boiler serves the other coil providing back up and assistance at peak load conditions.
• Energy efficient lighting, PIR lighting control and use of natural daylighting wherever possible.
• Natural ventilation to the warehouse. Where provided, mechanical ventilation includes heat recovery via cross flow plate heat exchangers to 60% efficiencies, low specific fan power and inverter driven motor controls.

Project team details

• Client: Portland Estates Ltd (Building owner)  CHEP UK Ltd (Tenant)
• Contractor: Winvic Construction
• Architect: RPS Planning & Development
• Building Services Engineer: HWM Building Services Ltd
• Structural Engineer: Upton McGougan
• BREEAM Assessor: Arun Thaneja, Woods Hardwick

Tim Reeve of Winvic Construction (project contractor) said:

‘The main reasons for targeting a BREEAM rating were to reduce energy consumption – and therefore running costs – and to help to raise awareness in the local area. It also helped with securing funding and will be a useful marketing tool for future developments.

‘This was our first BREEAM 2011 assessment and the assessor made us feel very comfortable with his knowledge and expertise.  The tenant is very impressed that this development is the first to achieve the BREEAM 2011 certification, and I feel that a lot of this success was down to how the design team, contractor and BREEAM assessor performed as a collective.’