Sowing The Seeds On An Exciting Project

We are already well into January 2023 - and a quick reflection on the sustainability-related project outcomes of last year fills me with pride.

We are excited about the £38.8m refurbishment project at 10 Brindleyplace, which is in its final stages of completion. The project combines two buildings (previously numbered 8 and 10 Brindleyplace) into one building, to create an open plan office, totalling 212,000 sq ft over nine floors. It will also deliver one of Birmingham’s largest available floor plates, at over 27,000 sq ft.

Aligned with Willmott Dixon’s ‘Now or Never’ sustainability strategy 2020-2030, the project has a strong emphasis on sustainable design. The completed building will be Birmingham’s first to receive Fitwel design certification, a building ratings system with guidelines that provide an operating model for healthier buildings. We are also progressing with a BREEAM assessment to achieve a final rating of ‘excellent’.

It has been our collective effort to foster a closeness to nature through the design and installation of green walls and roofs at 10 Brindleyplace. Both play a significant role in enriching our urban landscapes, making the space environmentally friendly and improving health and wellbeing of the building occupants.

NRA Roofing has installed a green roof at the top of the building, using a wildflower system. Each wildflower blanket is sown with a seed mix of 38 species of wildflower and grass, to create a vibrant array of colour.  The species have been specifically chosen to survive roof conditions and increase biodiversity on extensive, intensive and podium systems. 

Living wall specialist, Biotecture, has designed and installed an external living wall on the building’s roof terrace and an internal living wall at the ground floor reception.  The external living wall includes a selection of robust evergreen plants including ferns, grasses and ivy. Flowering plants will also provide a seasonal pop of colour.

The benefits of external living walls and roofs are many and include:

• Improving the drainage system
• Removing air pollutants
• Increased biodiversity
• Increasing the lifespan of the roof
• Boosting thermal performance

The internal living wall is a flourish unit made up of 90 PlantBoxes containing 1,080 plants. Its planting selection includes robust internal varieties, such as ferns and peace lilies, and a selection of anthurium red and tradascantia zebrina. There is also an integral reservoir and a recirculating pump for easy maintenance. 

The PlantBox is a simple stackable modular living wall system designed to quickly transform spaces, which is manufactured in the UK from 100% recycled materials, with a low carbon footprint.

An internal living wall provides benefits such as:

• Better air quality (plants remove CO₂ levels)
• Improved health and wellbeing
• Stimulating greater productivity and creativity

There are several other key aspects of this refurbishment that have contributed to the net zero journey of 10 Brindleyplace.

For example, the building’s design has eliminated reliance on fossil fuels by using an all-electric heating and cooling system. Additionally, we have added smart building technologies for building access, as well as real time energy monitoring which enhance the occupant’s experience. By using a rainwater harvesting system, the development is enabled to reduce its water consumption significantly.

The overall impact is a 53% reduction in carbon emissions when compared with the pre-refurbishment development.

Furthermore, by using life cycle costing and analysis, we were able to establish priorities in the use of recycled materials that contributed to the reduction of embodied carbon. The whole life carbon approach also helped us find solutions with reduced costs for maintenance and operation over the lifetime of the project.

The strong focus on sustainability and occupier wellbeing has also led to the delivery of enhanced amenities within the refurbished building, including a fitness studio and bouldering wall; cycle storage for 100 bicycles; electric vehicle charging; and two communal landscaped roof terraces.

It all means that 10 Brindleyplace will truly set a new benchmark for the reinvention of existing office space in Birmingham.
Find out more about the project here: https://www.willmottdixoninteriors.co.uk/work/10-brindleyplace/