Bristol developer Ashfield Land has just secured one of the highest attainable environmental ratings for its new office building in Clifton, St Catherine’s Court.

It is the first office building in Clifton and one of a very few within Bristol to achieve such high accreditation.

St Catherine’s Court is a £15 million; 31,000 sq ft grade A office development on the Clifton Triangle and has been awarded a BREEAM “Excellent” rating. BREEAM ratings are the leading and most established environmental assessment of buildings and are determined on a variety of criteria by independent assessors including management, energy use, health and well being of users, air and water pollution, transport, land use, materials and ecology.

“More and more businesses and, in particular, Government and public authorities are insisting upon BREEAM “Excellent” for their office accommodation and specify this standard as a prerequisite. This is a good move, both to ensure the new buildings coming out of the ground are of the highest attainable standards and for the environment as over 50% of the UK’s carbon emissions is produced from the buildings we work in every day. BREEAM sets the benchmarks for quality and sustainability and St Catherine’s Court will be the first BREEAM ‘Excellent’ office building in the area. The construction will be complete in the spring.” Said Ashfield Land Director, Paul Jagroop.

Commercial Property Agents GVA Grimley are already committed to moving into St Catherine’s Court and will take occupation of 10,500 sq ft in May.

Inside St Catherine’s Court there is an array of energy conscious innovations. The building will emit 16% less carbon than a building regulations compliant building and this is achieved through a number of measures including reduced air leakage, improved insulation standards, heat recovery measures and a Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) air source heat pump system for heating/comfort cooling, providing energy savings to the occupier of approximately 12% compared to conventional air conditioning. Ashfield Land has also selected A-rated responsibly sourced and sustainable materials with low Global Warming Potential (GWP) as well as energy efficient lighting.

The building will also incorporate a high degree of control and management for water usage including low-flow showers, aerated taps with auto shut-off, and leak detection monitoring. The building, when operational, will also incorporate facilities for recycling.

Green issues extend outside the building too with the office being close to public transport links and facilities for green modes of travel including showers, locker rooms and drying rooms for cyclists, joggers and walkers.

“Although the building covers approximately 90% of the site, we have created opportunities for enhancing significantly the ecological value, not only through a native species planting regime but also the inclusion of design features for birds and invertebrates.” Added Paul Jagroop.

Simon Price from Alder King Property Consultants, one of the Joint letting agents for the remainder of the scheme along with Williams Gunter Hardwick commented, “It is fantastic news that Ashfield Land have successfully obtained the ‘Excellent’ rating from BREEAM. The environmental credentials of a building are becoming very important to the modern occupier. St Catherine’s Court is unique not only for being the first new office in Clifton for over 20 years but also for its excellent green credentials and this is likely to prove very popular with occupiers.”

Further details are available from Simon Price (Alder King) 0117 317 1084 and Andrew Hardwick (Williams Gunter Hardwick) 0117 922 1222.