Environment Agency boasts UK's greenest office - the national agency's new head quarters under construction in Bristol is highest scoring BREEAM office.

The UK‘s greenest office building was topped out last week. The new Environment Agency office in Bristol scored 85.06% under BREEAM 2006, a score that has not been matched under either BREEAM 2006 or 2008, making it the greenest office development in the UK.
Developer Westmark is applying various environmental technologies to the project, which is due to complete in 2010, including:

• rainwater harvesting and recycling to flush water efficient toilets, reducing total potable water use by 70%. Intelligent metering and detection controls are also included
• lighting systems with intelligent controls. 100m2 of photovoltaic cells will produce electricity
• natural ventilation with opening windows cooling the building at night. Natural ventilation of the underground car park will reduce building energy consumption by 44 megawatt hours per year, the equivalent of 33 tonnes of carbon per year, reducing running costs by £10,600 per year
• ground source heat pump for space and water heating. 45m2 solar hot water collectors also produce hot water
• wild flower meadow grass roof, tree planting and a mini park enhance ecology and reduce surface run off
• reuse of aggregates from previous building demolition for substructure. Materials have high recycled content and, where possible, are sourced from local suppliers with FSC and ISO14001 certifications.
• on site monitoring and reporting of water and electricity consumption with monitoring of carbon dioxide production arising from deliveries and site activities.

Paul Leinster, chief executive of the Environment Agency said, "This achievement demonstrates how organisations can work with developers to build exceptional offices which meet their needs whilst reducing their impact on the environment. By relocating to a more efficient building the Environment Agency will save around 10% every year on operational and energy costs, an estimated £180,000 saving per year."

Carol Atkinson, chief executive of BRE Global added, "BRE welcomes the example that the Environment Agency has set, but more importantly welcomes the challenge it has set down for others to build even better buildings in the UK."

Westmark‘s team includes Alec French Architects, engineer Hoare Lea and contractor Sir Robert McAlpine.

http://www.building4change.com/page.jsp?id=294 for info on all the BREEAM award winners

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ for more about the Environment Agency.

http://www.breeam.org/ to find out more about BREEAM.

http://www.westmarkdev.co.uk/ for information on Westmark.

http://www.breglobal.com/  for more on the third party approvals body.