The facts
Location: Chatterley Valley,
Stoke-on-Trent
Client: Gazeley UK Limited
Start Date: Early 2008
Completion Date: December 2008
Contract Type: Design and Build
Procurement method: Negotiated
Services provided: Civil, Structural,
Highways and Geotechnical Services
Capita Symonds contacts: Mark Graham –
Project Associate Director, Sarah Burrows – Associate Director
(Highways), Alan Longley – Structural Technician, Asad Khan –
Structural
The project
G.Park Blue Planet is the first ever project to receive the
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment
Method) “Outstanding” (design stage) rating.
The 52 acre park in Stoke-on-Trent is the culmination of Capita
Symonds’ ongoing sustainable development work initiated by Gazeley,
a leading developer of sustainable warehouses. It features a
variety of renewable and sustainable power sources with enough
capacity to support the park and export power and heat to the
neighbouring residential development.
Capita Symonds provided civil, structural, highways and
geotechnical Engineering services on the project.
The building has a thermal efficiency far exceeding current UK
Building Regulations. They are designed to maximise daylight and
feature solar power generation, energy efficient artificial
illumination and roof lights that eliminate night-time light
pollution.
The main warehouse and office accommodation is shrouded by a
vast low pitched roof, from which rainwater drains directly into
ponds and streams on the landscaped site. Additionally, a 20,000
litre tank stores some of the rainwater for flushing WCs. Providing
385,000 sqft of storage space, the steel framed warehouse is clad
in insulated composite panels and features ETFE roof lights with
inbuilt photovoltaic cells. Its south wall is designed as a solar
attractor. Dark in colour, it absorbs the warmth of the sun, which
is then fed into a plenum and redistributed throughout the interior
as free heating. The offices are over-clad with FSC approved
Western Red Cedar.
On site power sources include the solar technology installed
onto the warehouse, and kinetic plates embedded into in the access
road that generate energy via hydraulics as vehicles drive over
them. A biomass plant will provide heat and energy for the
completed buildings and future planned developments on the site,
with enough left over to export to 3100 nearby homes.
The design achieves lighting and power savings of 49% when
compared to a conventional distribution building; heating energy
savings of 68%; and water savings of 60% (some 726,000 litres per
annum).
More than half of the site is landscaped, creating green park
space for workers and the public, with links to local public
footpaths and canal-side walks. The wider landscape concept sees
the undulating site designed to lessen the visual impact of the
building on its surroundings and encourage diversity of flora and
fauna on and around the site. Areas on the site are characterised
by different types of planting. These include the woodland zone and
a watercourse zone, both of which are accessible year round. No
excavated material was imported or exported to or from the
site.
Below are some of the sustainable features of G.Park Blue
Planet:
- Rainwater harvesting for WCs and wet landscaping
- ETFE roof lights with inbuilt photovoltaic cells
- Southern facing solar attractor wall
- Airtight construction 75% better than statutory
requirements
- Use of timber from approved sustainable sources
- Bio mass plant
- Exportation of power to nearby homes and the grid
- Kinetic plate technology to harvest energy from vehicles
entering the site
- Green space for workers and the public
- Diverse planting to attract native flora and fauna
- 100% of energy and heat is supplied by renewable sources
- Prefabrication and recycling maximised and 40% of materials
supplied from within 35 miles of the site
Awards
- ABC Building Excellence Awards – for Best Partnerships with
Chetwood, Gazeley, McLaren, Harborough
- Property Week Award: Sustainability Award: at the Property Week
Awards – Midlands
- IAS (Industrial Agents Society) awards – Green category
Video
Links