Sheppard Robson on sustainable workspace and urban environments

Above: CGI of interior of EvO Building (Sheppard Robson)

Sheppard Robson is at the forefront of designing the UK's most sustainable urban environments and workspaces.

Upon completion, the firm says that The Ev0 Building is set to become one of the UK’s lowest carbon-emitting workspaces, while its revival of the Grade II listed Pall Mall Court in Manchester city centre will boost energy efficiency.

The EvO Building

At 83,000 square feet and six storeys tall, it will set the standard in future sustainable developments with 94% of the energy generated on-site and the rest sourced from Bruntwood’s cooperative owned wind farm. Nestled between Sir William Siemens House and Bruntwood Works’ Ohm Building, the commercial development uses parametric design principles to reduce the overall carbon footprint of the building.

The façade will minimise solar gain and overheating on the south and westerly elevations and maximise solar growth on the north and east elevations. Energy will be generated on-site, including the building facades, roof, and car park, all acting as a series of mini power plants.

The development will use restricted carbon materials such as low-carbon concrete and mass timber which capture and stores carbon. In addition, an intelligent building management system will ensure space management is effective, reducing running costs for customers.

The highly sustainable project is targeting the LETI 2020 design target for upfront carbon, the RIBA 2025 performance targets on whole-life carbon, and the UKGBC Paris Proof target on operational energy use. It will follow the UK Green Building Council’s (UKGBC) net-zero carbon framework and achieve net-zero carbon in upfront construction and operation. It is targeting NABERS 5.5 stars and BREEAM Excellent ratings.

Above: CGI of exterior of Pall Mall Court, Manchester (Sheppard Robson)

Pall Mall Court

Another of Sheppard Robson's workplace developments, rethinks urban presence with three distinct blocks in Manchester that are bound by King Street to the south, Marsden Street to the north, Pall Mall to the west and Brown Street to the east.

The firm says that the entrance, currently with considerable accessibility issues, will be moved to the centre of the development and positioned central to a new public space. This configuration will help create a lively arrival experience, with two-storey glazing and a portal entrance that draws people in by making the reception clearly visible and accessible to all.

The design faithfully recreates the building’s cladding, which will boost energy efficiency and airtightness of the building that was in drastic need of the attention, bringing it up to the standard of a modern, sustainable workplace. This included the painstaking recreation of the cladding joints, made and tested through 3D-printed models.

A close collaboration with Sheppard Robson’s interior design group ID:SR, the interior design strategy uses the original building, and its distinct modernist language, as a starting point, with key materials retained wherever possible. This is done alongside a radical rethinking of the workspaces and amenities the building offers.

The result is a workplace with a focus on health, with the design including a wellness studio and gym, cycle store, high-quality showers and changing area to encourage a healthy and productive workforce.