HOK joins 'Infrastructure, energy and net zero' discussions
Image: Rob McGill courtesy of HOK
Future Cities Forum is delighted that Rob McGill, Sustainable Design Leader at HOK, will be contributing to its infrastructure discussion event this month. Rob has an extensive background as a project architect before dedicating his career to sustainable design over the last ten years.
He is particularly active with performance design in the built environment and continues to explore tools and processes to target net zero design objectives critically needed in the construction industry.
Rob is committed to improving the way we measure energy, carbon and comfort requirements at pace to alleviate programme and cost delivery pressures we all face in our day to day lives as building and place designers.
He will be speaking about the Net Zero Buildings Standard (The Standard) at our 'Infrastructure, energy and construction' discussion forum at DLA Piper in the City of London . The Standard Pilot Version contains the technical details on how a building should meet the Standard, including what limits and targets it needs to meet, the technical evidence needed to demonstrate this and how it should be reported.
The UK's first cross-industry Standard brings together Net-Zero Carbon requirements for all major building types,
Following the launch of the Pilot Version of the Standard in September 2024, the team behind the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard stated that it was keen to continue engagement with the industry through trialling the Pilot Version of the Standard on real projects.
The Pilot Testing scheme aims to gather feedback on the process of implementing the Standard. It is now seeking applications for buildings to be used as pilot projects and is calling for Pilot projects at all stages and in all sectors - new or existing, in design, under construction, at or around practical completion or in occupation.
HOK's Merlin Place development in the Cambridge Cluster life science district is targeting BREEAM Excellent certification for sustainable design, with a goal to achieve a zero-carbon footprint over Merlin Place’s entire life cycle using the new UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard as a basis of the approach. SDC Builders is serving as construction lead for the project.
Merlin Place, is a 139,000-sq.-ft., six-story commercial lab and office building which sits adjacent to Cambridge Science Park and St. John’s Innovation Park and which is a short walk from the Cambridge North Station.
Designed as a hub for life sciences, the building will feature a range of social places to enhance collaboration, including a public café and double height foyer on the ground level, embedded social spaces on upper floors, and a dramatic penthouse suite for meetings and events. An adjacent rooftop terrace offers panoramic views of greater Cambridge.
The plan places the building within a compressed, yet prominent, triangular site hemmed in by major thoroughfares. HOK’s design draws on the local context in its form and materials to create a new landmark for people entering and leaving Cambridge. The overall composition of the building is seen as a rectangular lab wing facing the main route into Cambridge with a curvilinear workplace wing facing the quieter road to the railway station. Each corner of the building is treated in a distinct way that responds to the site’s unique shape.
Merlin Place will offer full flexibility from single to multi-tenant split. The design can accommodate a wide range of biotechnology, pharmaceutical, med-tech and digital health companies. The modular wet and dry labs, flexible structural grid, adaptable floor heights and robust infrastructure enables the building to adapt easily to ever-evolving tenant needs.
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