Although timber captures carbon, if left to rot naturally in an open-air landfill, it releases the stored carbon as well as methane, which has a greater global warming impact than CO2.
The sustainably focused design promotes the use of healthy materials, avoiding products identified in the client’s prohibited materials list, which includes materials labelled as acutely toxic, serious health hazard, Persistent Bio-Accumulative (PBA), and the use of Chromium VI, PVC, Rayon, Asbestos, Mercury, Lead, Cadmium or other heavy metals.Finishes, paints and adhesives have been selected to meet the formaldehyde, Benzene and VOC thresholds from the WELL Standard..
The future of wellbeing in architectural design.The impact of the pandemic has highlighted the importance of designing for wellbeing.While this is positive for building occupants, the lessons learned from COVID have shown that some of the design decisions taken to make buildings healthier, have implications for energy efficiency that can affect the aspiration to deliver low-carbon buildings.. Our response to the challenge is a holistic approach to sustainable design and wellbeing, with a strong focus on the use of passive design measures.
We aim to give such a response to all different challenges, looking for synergies and using building physics and analytical tools to support our decisions..The building of the future is energy efficient, but also a place with higher standards in terms of air quality, daylight and thermal experience, with a strong connection to nature.
A new focus on healthy architecture will create buildings where materials are selected not just for their architectural and structural properties, but also with the potential effect on occupant health in mind..
Such a holistic approach to design for wellbeing will, ultimately, be of benefit to all of us.. To learn more about our Design to Value approach to design and construction, sign up for our monthly newsletter here:.Also on the Granta Park is a building called Portway.
Initially built as a large office complex for one company, we have been working on dividing it up to house nine separate clients.This has complex implications for mechanical and electrical services.
For obvious technical reasons, each client cannot be serviced separately, so each one has to be monitored separately for energy, airflow and water usage..The existing plant was 20 years old, and at the end of its useful life.
(Editor: Magnetic Pens)