A Sustainable Vision of a Future Office Building

Architects, journalists and green building enthusiasts are often speculating about the future of sustainable office buildings. It won’t come as a huge surprise that businesses, compared to a private dwelling, make a more significant impact on the environment. In this article I’d like to just sit down and dream about an ideal future office building.

1. Screwpile foundations. The greenest type of foundation in existence. Depending on the method you use, screwpile foundations can be more expensive than concrete slab but you get the foundations in at a fraction of time required to do a slab. Ain’t your time worth anything?
2. Basement space if at all feasible. Building vertically is greener than building horizontally because you’re saving space. Consider having a lower ground floor and put all the utility rooms and car park underneath your office building.
3. Car park with a fast-charger for electric cars and spaces for scooters and bicycles. Encourage your staff using pedal power and greener cars. If you’re making the most of the British tax system, you’re already considering an electric car fleet for your company (100 per cent capital allowance, 0 road tax etc.) and having your own charger is essential.
4. Did I forget to tell you that we’re building an off-grid office unit? Heat pump! It will take care about heating the premises. Forget about gas bills. Many private properties are using heat pumps. What a private builder can afford, a corporate builder can too.
5. Rainwater harvesting unit. How many gallons of clean treated water does an office building consume because of people flushing toilets? Huge amounts every day. Charge the workers for using toilets? Wicked! Better use rainwater harvesting and considering the water prices, you’ll have paid for the harvester unit within two years or so.
6. Biomass fermentation boiler. Ok, ok, this is a bit on the sci-fi side and I am not really endorsing people installing this because the units are very expensive. But as we are dreaming about the future, I cannot skip this great idea. Basically, you take the shi*e out of your employees and convert it into methane and burn it to produce extra electricity and heat as a by-product. Not bad at all, only a little too early for it to be justifiable unless you’re a real eco-friendly freeek!
7. Modular structure. A steel frame goes up in a matter of weeks (wooden frame possible but not recommended for a green office) and then they deliver wall units straight from the factory. They are precision-made, ready to mount and come with windows and insulation. Another few weeks and the office building is water-tight.
8. Super-duper insulation. We’ve spoken about eco-insulation on various occasions. What was said about green family homes also applies to green office buildings: foam is bad, recycled newspaper or lambs wool is good. Don’t be tempted to go for foam insulation even if your modular unit manufacturer insists. You’ll create potential health risks for your employees and stop your building from being eco-friendly.
9. Clever windows. A reasonably large glass surface will allow the natural light come in and minimize your electricity bill… large windows, unfortunately, leak heat… not necessarily. There are double-glazed (or even triple glazed) units with clever film coating that allows the ambient heat in but stops the internal heat from radiating outside. That’s what we want – clever windows.
10. Along came the Romans and introduced Roman blinds. And a great invention it was. A green office building should have some sort of a blinds system to keep the cooling-related bills at minimum. Whether it’s a sophisticated external system or just good old Roman blinds, it’s up to you. Incoming sunlight should be controllable for each widow separately.
11. Want some free light? Do what Sainsburys did in Gloucester – install sun pipes on the roof. They are a great way to get extra free daylight, especially in the middle of a large open-plan structure.
12. Natural ventilation. Why install expensive fans to drive the air around if you can get the good old physics to work for you on a no-fee basis? Using the chimney draft and the fact that hot air always travels upwards, you can design a clever ventilation system that either doesn’t need any fans at all or uses only a few minor fans.
13. Put some photovoltaics on the roof and tilt them towards the South. It won’t get you off the grid on its own but it will cut your electricity bill by up to 20 per cent.
14. Turf roof. A green roof is a great way to have both cheap roof insulation and blend your building into the environment.
15. Don’t forget about plants and landscaping. Nothing fancy – just some low-maintenance grass, shrubs and a few trees that won’t consume too much water (we don’t want to damage your screw-pile foundations with tree roots, do we?). Limited space? How about a vertical garden or a green wall?

Other things to consider: Eco-friendly fixtures and fittings. This includes LED lighting, double-flush toilets and water saving taps. Be creative, there are many exciting new green products available. Use VOC-free paints and furniture to finish the perfectly green interior.

Well, this was my list of top eco features of a modern office building. Please chip in with your suggestions by adding comments below. Is it possible to build a house to match those features? Yes it is, and although ticking all the boxes might sound extremely expensive, you’d soon find out that running and maintaining a green office would save you lots of money. Besides, in this case, “modular” is the keyword – helping you saving money and time.