Sustainability

Sustainability

WilkinsonEyre’s in-house Sustainability Group provides the focus for the practice’s environmental activities. Drawn from a variety of experience levels and skill areas, the group has been instrumental in developing the Green Review system as well as raising awareness ofenvironmentalissueswithintheoffice.

The group carries out a range of research and development initiatives, the current focus being on the introduction of environmental modelling during the early stages of a project to audit energy performance. Much of this modelling is carried out using the Ecotect package, although the team is exploring ways that thiscanbelinkedtoRhino3Dmodellingsoftwaretorefinethe process and encourage wider use of the system. These techniques allow architects to adopt a much more interactive approach to design, allowing them to gain an immediate understanding of the environmental impact of their buildings.

Other activities include the collection and collation of a large library of environmental resources for use by the practice as a whole, including previous project work as well as external references.

The Sustainability Group provides an important interface between WilkinsonEyre and the wider design and construction industries, participating in a number of lobbying and knowledge-sharing groups such as the Green Building Council. The group also organise regularstudyvisitstoexemplar(andnonexemplar!)developments, broadening knowledge of environmental best practice across the office. Engagement with the wider debate on environmental design is essential if WilkinsonEyre is to continue developing innovative sustainable solutions and fully understand the broader technological and legislative contexts of green building. One of the practice’s key commitments is to take an active part in industry groups which deal with environmental issues.

The practice is a member of the UK Green Building Council, which acts as a lobbying group and think tank for environmentally conscious design and construction, as well as the AECB, which promotes sustainable building and develops industry standards, including the use of the Passivhaus standard.

The practice is listed in several directories for best practice in sustainable design, including the Green Book and GBCI.

WilkinsonEyre has also participated in several schemes facilitated by WRAP, for whom we have provided a number of case studies, and schemes for large developers such as British Land.

WilkinsonEyre also values greatly its ongoing creative collaboration with clients and consultants, as innovative sustainable design is almostalwaystheresultofasharedteameffort.Thepractice therefore aims to work with - and actively seek out - collaborators who share our concern for the environment and a creative approach to sustainable solutions.

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Sustainability and the Environment Sustainability Awards and Accreditations

Sustainability and the Environment

Sustainability Policy

WilkinsonEyreiscommittedtoachievinginnovative,efficientand beautiful design solutions. Inherent in this approach is our commitment to sustainability in its broadest sense. With increasing concern about the environment, we recognise the pivotal role we have as architects to mitigate future climate change. We therefore aim to design buildings and structures which have minimum impact on the environment, both in their construction and operation and in the way that they are delivered by our practice.

We recognise that sustainability, value and design quality are not mutually exclusive, and that they can only be achieved through creative collaboration with our clients and consultants. In our work, we focus on how low energy design can become the driver for innovative and inspirational architecture. Our work draws from the lessons of nature, but is also based on a celebration of progress and technology, and a recognition of how these can be tools in creating environmentally responsible buildings. At WilkinsonEyre sustainability is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Certification and Standards

In order to demonstrate and test our ability to design buildings whichperformwellenvironmentally,wehavereceivedcertification for EMS 14001 - the recognised British standard for environmental managementsystems.Ourcertificateappearstotheleft.

We recognise LEED and BREEAM as important methodologies for benchmarking the environmental performance of our buildings, and have a large portfolio of buildings which have achieved ‘Excellent’ and ‘Very Good’ status.

Environmental Commitments

As designers, we commit to:

Taking a holistic approach and exploring the wider impact of our building as an integral part of its community, in line with our design philosophywhichconsidersthebroadercontextandspecificityof location

Setting challenging targets related to the sustainability and environmental performance of our buildings, which are agreed with our clients early in the design process and exceed legislative targets

Monitoring the ongoing performance of our projects against these targets, throughout the design, construction and post-occupancy phases

Understanding how these targets relate to and support the broader legislative context within the design profession and beyond

Developing through this process a body of knowledge and expertiseonenvironmentalissueswhichwillbenefitfuture buildings we design

Ensuring that sustainability issues are integral to the architecture of our buildings and reinforce their design integrity

Undertaking our own research into sustainable design, and further educate ourselves through external training programmes

Disseminatingandsharingspecialistknowledgewithintheofficeto collectivelyimproveourownexpertiseandofferourclientsthe benefitofabroadknowledgebase

Working with – and actively seeking out – clients who share our concern for the environment and our creative approach to sustainable solutions

Aligning ourselves with other consultants who share our views, contributing to the ongoing debate on sustainable design and engaging with the industry

Sustainability Awards & Accreditations

Wilkinson Eyre has won many awards for its work, including the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize in two consecutive years. Many design award schemes include sustainability as a key criteria, but thepracticehasalsowonanumberofawardsspecificto environmental design, including Bristol Brunel Academy’s shortlisting for the RIBA Sustainability Award in 2008 and the National CCF Earth Award for the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne in 2011. In 2013 we were Highly Commended for Sustainable Practice of the Year at the AJ100.

Many more of the practice’s buildings have gained accreditation via one of the many industry environmental benchmarking schemes, including BREEAM, LEED and Green Mark. Our in-house knowledge means that we recognise such benchmarking schemes as a successful framework for asking questions about sustainability, and providing a breadth of analysis on how a building performs. BREEAM in particular is providing a tougher audit of green issues with each iteration, and because so much research is carried out by BRE(formerlytheBuildingResearchEstablishment)itself,itmeans that the scheme is constantly evolving and improving. However, we try to maintain a balanced approach to sustainability in our work and, although benchmarking can be a very positive part of the process - not least as a way of helping the client to understand the many environmental impacts of a building, it can also become a box-ticking exercise. The priorities for one project can be very differentforthoseofanother,andsoweaimtousethese accreditations as a basic framework for our approach to sustainable design.

A full list of our environmental accreditations follows:

BREEAM

Outstanding The Crystal

Excellent

Anglia Ruskin University: Ashcroft Business School Royal Botanic Gardens Kew: Jodrell Laboratory Great Pulteney Street BBC North University of Exeter: Forum Project 10 Brock Street RiverPlateHouse(draft) AldgateTower(draft) QueenMary,UniversityofLondon:GraduateCentre(Draft) CityUniversityLondon:GraduateCentre(draft) BankStationOversiteDevelopment(draft) ArundelGreatCourt(draft)

Very Good

Anglia Ruskin University: Student Centre Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre John Madejski Academy Bristol Brunel Academy Bristol Metropolitan Academy Queen Mary, University of London: Arts 2 University of Cambridge: Hauser Forum Splashpoint Leisure Centre CrossrailLiverpoolStreet(draft) UniversityofBristol:FryBuilding(draft)

LEED

Platinum

The Crystal

Silver

CairoPolygon(draft) Rio 2016 COT Halls

Green Mark (environmental accreditation scheme developed by the Singapore Building and Construction Authority)

Platinum

Cooled Conservatories, Gardens by the Bay

Green Star (national environmental accreditation administered by the Green Building Council Australia)

5 Star

SwinburneUniversity:AdvancedManufacturingCentre(draft)

CEEQUAL (contractor focussed environmental standard)

Excellent

Peace Bridge, Londonderry

Wilkinson Eyre’s Brücke Baakenhafen West in Hamburg is currently a pilot project for a new environmental standard for bridge design. The pilot scheme is being carried out by LCEE Life Cycle Engineering Experts GmbH.