Top Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers have received the first ‘outstanding’ environmental rating for their new office building in London. During the construction of their new building PWC recognised the environmental issues and problems of both new and existing buildings and decided to build their office with the aspiration of reducing their carbon footprint. A partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Roger Reeves said, “We had the opportunity with the design process for the building, to take a blank sheet of paper and raise the bar, both for ourselves and others, in the environmental and sustainability performance of office buildings. This assessment sends a really clear message that planning for the sustainable use of resources, in detail and right through the process can make good business sense.” And raise the bar they have, in order to achieve the BREEAM ‘Outstanding rating’ PWC have worked with design consultancy, BDP to meet a difficult score of 85% against strict rating categories in which they had to evaluate pollution, land use, transport, materials and other criteria. 80% of the aggregates within the concrete used were recycled, furthermore the majority of aggregates used in the build were also recycled, both a sustainable and cost efficient strategy.
During the initial planning stages Bob Spittle, chairman of environmental engineering at BDP says that they were originally aiming for the “BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, however during the fit out design we could see the opportunity to lead and innovate, and we set ourselves the target to secure the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating. You have for to be determined to set and achieve these new standards; involve people early on and make sure the support of your developer, contractors and design team matches the vision of your clients.” Their decision and motivation to see their plans through to the end have now set a standard for office buildings of the future. The Recipro team would like to think that future projects to build offices will look to PWC’s accomplishment for inspiration. Projects such as these could definitely benefit from the services Recipro provide because they could not only use recycled products but also reuse builders materials. Whilst the shell of the building is now complete it is currently being internally fitted with all that an office of this scale needs. Once completed in early 2011 the building will provide 5500 people with a place to work, will feature four restaurants, 240 cycle spaces, a roof terrace and onsite energy generation facilities using recycled cooking oil and the use of solar thermal panels.