Brunel Building

Environment and social sustainability were central to the ambitions of both design team and client.

The existing building on the site spanned this section of the canal blocking access and views along the canal. The canal-side walk is now publicly accessible for the first time in more than 200 years and will eventually provide new pedestrian routes to nearby Little Venice, as well as a new public space and artwork. Brunel Building is one of surprisingly few canal-side developments in London with its main entrance on a canal.

Motorized hangar-sized glazed sliding doors can be rolled back to provide an extension to the new tree-lined towpath walkway. Passers-by can visit the canal-side restaurant café and bar and view the public art in the triple-height reception concourse. Meanwhile, occupiers have access to two expansive roof terraces with views across London. Soft landscaping, planters with wildflowers, trees and nesting boxes all contribute toward re-establishing the local ecology in what was previously a light-industrial area.

DIGITAL DESIGN TOOLS
Such a rich and complex building, which took three years to construct, could only be delivered by harnessing the latest digital tools, developing and coordinating the design, and managing the logistics for fabrication and construction. “We could visualise the design via simulated walkthroughs and virtual reality headsets, enabling the architects, designers and suppliers to check for clashes, such as pipework running through beams, so we could make and assess changes holistically,” says Fletcher Priest associate Chris Radley.

SUSTAINABLE BUILDING MATERIALS
A sustainable procurement policy was in place during construction which included requirements for: responsibly sourced materials, materials with a high recycled content, regional materials and waste minimisation and recycling.
- All indoor finishes are carefully chosen in order to enhance people’s health and wellbeing in the building while minimising the environmental impact of the building materials. Indoor finishes with very low or zero volatile organic compound emissions are adopted. Using sustainable materials positively impacts the life cycle costs. - The use of glass panels with recyclable composite material, for example, reduces the costs for replacement and maintenance.
- Recycled and ground blast-furnace slag (a waste product from iron and steel production) was used in the concrete.
- More than 98% of construction waste was recycled.
- Aluminium used in the façade contained 65% recycled content.

OPERATIONAL ENERGY AND EMBODIED CARBON
- Operational and embodied carbon assessments were completed during the early stages of the project to identify opportunities for reducing carbon emissions throughout the design process.
The building's operational energy consumption is reduced by 71% over the energy benchmark of a typical Econ19 office fit out.
Leaving the ceilings exposed also saved more than 540 tonnes of embodied carbon.

PASSIVE AND ACTIVE STRATEGIES
- The complex external diagrid structure provides 20% shading to the facades, helping to reduce energy demand.
- Exposed undersides of the structural precast concrete floor panels, made in a state-of-the-art robotic plant, help to deliver comfortable interior thermal gradients and more volume per person. This provides the indoor spaces with an adequate amount of exposed thermal mass that improves occupancy comfort during heat wave conditions. Exposing the structure both internally and externally helped to reduce embodied carbon. Avoiding suspended ceilings saved 540 tCO2e, fly ash replacement in the concrete saved over 1,000 tCO2e and employing self-finishing concrete saved 18 tCO2.
- The building is provide with an aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system that utilises two 180m-deep boreholes to take advance of the stable ground temperatures.
- In order to improve energy consumption and comfort, low energy fan coil units can be individually controlled.

WATER CONSERVATION
- Grey water from showers is recycled to flush the building’s bathrooms.


All workspace was oversubscribed long before completion, Brunel is the new home to a remarkably diverse ecology from many sectors; Sony Pictures, the Premier League, Alpha FX, Splunk, Hellman & Friedman, Coach and Paymentsense.