New commercial office development, focusing on sustainability by conducting carbon assessments, life cycle analyses, and solar heat gain studies.
Commissioned by Stanhope, Chenies Street is a commercial office scheme within the Bloomsbury Conservation Area in central London. Designed by Morris + Company, the development retains the facade and structure of the two buildings on the site, including the Grade II listed Minerva House. The design and specification of the new interventions, which are likely to include a composite steel and timber structure, have been optimised to reduce the quantity and impact of the materials.
Eckersley O’Callaghan is providing facade engineering services with a particular focus on sustainability considerations. These include coordinating with other consultants on a whole carbon evaluation for refurbishment versus demolition, and carrying out an embodied carbon assessment for the facade. As part of this, the practice carried out a life cycle assessment for different facade options – the first time we have provided this service. For this, we used our existing knowledge along with researching additional expert guidance from built environment network LETI, and other available benchmarks.
We also carried out preliminary solar heat gain studies to test facade concepts and determine the feasible performance potential of different shading systems and self-shading principles.