James Hutton Building

Summary

This project marked the second phase of the British Geological Survey’s headquarters development – creating a two-storey office building to accommodate 100 staff, as well as refurbishing the library.

The brief

The brief was to deliver a building that achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating and used even less energy than the successful first phase of the development. As well as creating new office space, we needed to refurbish the library, incorporating a new reception, conference facilities for 200 delegates, a geology shop, landscaped courtyard and media centre.

Our response

We created a calm structure in a landscaped setting, with an external courtyard as a key feature. The building maximises natural light and ventilation, with a high level of exposed thermal mass, a light well, a passive stack ventilation strategy and solar control devices. We also realised the client’s long-held desire to display the UK’s geology as a timeline, creating a geology walk.

Key facts

• We achieved 0.12W/m2k U values for all external walls.
• We achieved an Energy Performance Certificate A rating.
• We achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating.