BREEAM Outstanding (96.3%)
Version: BREEAM 2008 Offices
Architect: TP Bennett
Building Services: ChapmanBDSP
Assessor Company: ChapmanBDSP
Structural Enginers: Arup
About the building
One Embankment Place is a Commercial office building constructed in the early 1990’s. Constructed above Charing Cross station, it is the first air rights building in the UK
Approximately 40,000m2 total floor area comprising a ground floor below the station and floor 1 to 9 above with structure, services and lifts passing through Charing Cross station. The current occupier PwC desired a high BREEAM rating as part of their corporate policy along with a good EPC score and considered this high on the priorities at concept stage, with the BREEAM requirements featuring high on the list next to space planning and cost analysis.
Environmental features
- Biofuel trigeneration CCHP with and absorption chillers
- Biofuel is sourced from locally collected and refined waste vegetable oil
- Green walls and landscaped garden planting
- Waterless urinals and low flush toilets
- Comprehensive metering strategy and BMS
- Interactive screen in reception confirming building energy usage
- An innovation credit was achieved for the responsible sourcing of materials. >95% of materials used within the construction were responsibly sourced with an ISO 14001 certificate as a minimum.
- Staircase installed within the atria to promote vertical movement without the use of lifts.
The BREEAM Assessment
- Management 100.00%
- Transport 100.00%
- Materials 100.00%
- Energy 95.65%
- Waste 85.71%
- Water 83.33%
- Land Use 80.00%
- Innovation 80.00%
Building Services
The base load of the chilled water demand is via two 400 kW adsorption chillers driven by the hot water generated by two 520 kWe (KWe – electrical output) biodiesel combined heat and power units.
The remaining cooling duty is met by three 1.5 MW screw chillers (two duty and one standby). To provide resilience in the system, the capacity of the screw chillers have been sized to maintain the total peak load of the building via two units, also providing backup in case CCHP is not operating for maintenance.
Boilers provide heating to the low grade hot water circuit serving the 4-pipe chilled beams within the office floor plates and the trench heaters system plus the Constant Temperature LTHW circuit serving all air handling units and fan coil circuits on the floors and the hot water service generation plant.
Green Strategy
Biomass fuel has been locally sourced via Uptown Biodiesel. PwC entered into a knowledge transfer partnership with London South Bank University. This has resulted in the bio fuel being certified to EN14214. The collaboration has allowed PwC to run its CHP engine with clean carbon neutral fuel, thus reducing the buildings EPC to 11 representing an A rating.
PwC engaged a BREEAM AP and energy modelling specialist at RIBA stage B to develop options to achieve the desired BREEAM rating of Excellent with an aspiration for Outstanding.
(Images: Hofton + Crow)
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