Sustainability
Northcliffe House, the original Daily Mail building south of Fleet Street has been extended and refurbished. The project received planning consent in January 2021 and we have taken the design through to RIBA Stage 4. The practice has been working on the project from the initial feasibility studies through to the present.
The project involved the refurbishment and extension of the existing building to deliver over 260,000sq ft of office space over lower ground to sixth floor levels, together with a new ground floor entrance, new landscaped terraces and retail provision, along with new basement end of journey facilities.
Sustainability was high on the Client’s agenda throughout with the project targeting BREEAM ‘Excellent’ from the outset. As the project developed the aspiration for the achievement of BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ was ambitiously pursued and in August 2023 the project was successfully awarded this ‘Outstanding’ rating. The sustainability principles were adopted where the constraints of the existing building allowed together with maximising biodiversity and renewable energy solutions.
As part of the refurbishment, in line with the current London Plan requirements, the combustion of natural gas has been omitted from the building. Heating and domestic hot water is now provided by air source heat pumps.
The low and zero carbon technologies included in the scheme are air source heat pumps to provide the heating and cooling, water source heat pumps to elevate the domestic hot water services temperature and an array of PV above the roof external plant enclosures. The incorporation of these LZCs in conjunction with energy efficiency measures such as LED lighting throughout with occupancy and daylight dimming controls has contributed to an overall Building Regulations Part L2 carbon emission saving of 64.1 %.
‘The Northcliffe won the award for best Refurbishment and Fit Out (RFO) at the BREEAM 2024 Awards in July 2024.’
Situated in Southwark on the intersection of Great Suffolk Street and Union Street, the iconic red brick Union House, historically a warehouse converted into offices, has undergone a substantial redevelopment.
The building at 10 New Burlington Street has been redeveloped to offer 172,000ft² of high quality office and retail accommodation, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering, vertical transportation engineering and energy consultancy to achieve an EPC B rating. We also supplied BREEAM services and achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating for the development.
Quay Place in Birmingham is situated next to the Utilita Arena which is a sport, exhibition and a concert venue. The works consisted of a new structure to contain the main reception, meeting room, changing facilities and a café for the site.
Skyline development for SEGRO plc provides well-connected Grade A logistics, distribution and warehousing facilities as it is adjacent to Heathrow Airport and the immediate motorway and rail networks.
Watkins Payne provided MEP systems and IT cabling design services for the fit-out of 186,000ft2 of commercial offices in the eight storey 1 Forbury Place in Reading, which formed the focus of SSE Services plc’s relocation strategy to consolidate several buildings from across southern England and accommodate 1,500 employees in a single location.