Setting the Green Standard in Office Design at Science Centre

July 20, 2010 - PRLog -- Sustainable office design specialist Morgan Lovell has transformed a 1950s office building described prior to the fit out as a ‘black hole’ into a bright and inspirational workplace, which measures up to demanding green standards.
   
Morgan Lovell’s fit out at Charles Darwin House in London has achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating – putting the workplace in the top tier of green office environments in the UK.

Charles Darwin House is home to the British Ecological Society, the Society for Experimental Biology and the Biochemical Society.

Dr Hazel Norman executive director of the British Ecological Society, said: “We are delighted that BREEAM Excellent has been achieved.

“It was not an easy objective as it involved transforming a 1950s office which needed a significant amount of refurbishment.

“When we first came to view the building it was a bit of a black hole with little natural light.

“The transformation now means that all 70 staff across five floors enjoy access to natural light and the stunning ground floor reception and conference suite now benefit from full length windows.”

Morgan Lovell’s team combined inspirational design and the latest in environmental innovation to create the new workplace.

These values are reinforced visually by the first thing visitors see – a bespoke plastic resin reception desk embedded with lush green grass.

The toilet area incorporates two new showers and lockers designed for use by staff who have been encouraged to cycle to work. To support that policy, the office car park has been transformed into an area with covered bike racks.  Parking for cars is no longer available.

All toilets and sinks are adapted to ensure low water usage and a water monitoring and leak detection system alerts staff to any problems.

Dr Norman added: “The upper floors provide great office space and the staff have been extremely positive about the move here.

“The whole refit was delivered on time and on budget and the building is now a wonderful asset for the three societies involved.”

To achieve BREEAM Excellent in this older building, Morgan Lovell relied on the findings from the transformation of its own London headquarters – a 1960s office block previously viewed as an environmental write off – into an award-winning green workplace. The office, located in Noel Street, was developed to create a blue print for the future in sustainable office design - paving the way for the conversion of existing building stock into low carbon environments.

In 2008, the project achieved the highest BREEAM fit out environmental assessment score in the UK for an office refurbishment, achieving BREEAM Excellent and a clutch of awards from industry bodies including BIFM and BRE Global.

David Henderson, managing director of Morgan Lovell said: “We relied heavily on the findings from the Noel Street project to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating in so challenging an environment at Charles Darwin House.

“The process is very rewarding. Creating a green office not only creates a lower carbon environment, it also supports an organisation’s CSR policy and delivers significant savings on energy bills that makes the process cost-effective in the longer term.”

Dr Hazel Norman, gives an insight into how inspirational design has helped achieve the challenging green standard in a Morgan Lovell podcast covering BREEAM.

To download the podcast log on to http://www.morganlovell.com/podcasts or subscribe via iTunes.


http://www.morganlovell.co.uk


Editor’s notes: Located in London, Birmingham and the Thames Valley, Morgan Lovell is the UK’s leading office interior design, fit out and refurbishment specialist. With its own teams of designers, surveyors and project managers, the company can design, manage and deliver entire projects, with the benefit of just one point of contact. It is part of leading UK construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall Group plc which operates through four divisions of fit out, construction and infrastructure, affordable housing and urban regeneration, which are supported by a specialist investment unit.

Morgan Lovell is a licensed BREEAM Offices Assessment Organisation. This means it is licensed to measure the sustainability score of an office in order to identify ways companies can reduce high energy usage and waste, whilst increasing comfort and satisfaction for users of the building.

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