News

Figure 1: Reception area and client refreshment station 4th floor, Old Broad Street.

We are delighted to announce that the refurbishment of our new London offices at 125 Old Broad Street has been awarded a BREEAM Excellent rating.  This rating reflects the focus on creating an office environment that promotes collaboration, health, and wellbeing and a commitment to sustainable procurement, reducing waste and minimising the use of resources during the refurbishment and ongoing occupation.

Background

In 2020, having redesigned and refurbished Cushman and Wakefield’s client suite on the Fourth Floor, DTZ Investors relocated to 125 Old Broad Street, EC2 from our offices in King William Street, EC4. The floor designs incorporated the BREEAM framework to create a smart, welcoming, wellbeing and sustainability-centric workspace aligned with our Responsible Investment strategy.

At 11,000 sq ft, the fourth-floor client suite is more than 2,000 sq ft bigger than KWS, enabling us to increase the number of workstations and meeting rooms. Additionally, KWS lacked informal collaboration and breakout space and was a focal point of feedback from colleagues who wanted to see improvements this area, making it a priority for the project team.

Project Aims / Strategy

Our project aimed to promote health and wellbeing, prioritise efficient use of natural resources, and showcase the latest sustainable design features in a BREEAM rating of Very Good. 

The refurbishment strategy focused on wellbeing and sustainability to enhance company culture and drive communication and collaboration to increase productivity, requiring a range of formal, informal, and innovative collaboration spaces. In addition, prioritising wellbeing at this stage enables DTZ Investors to earn further accreditations such as Fitwel and Well+ in the future. 

Colleague input was essential to ensure the designs met their requirements, captured through surveys to increase stakeholder engagement.

The project team agreed that the fit-out should include the installation of new furniture and office equipment. To ensure the old furniture contributed to the circular economy, the team sought to source a community organisation to donate our unwanted furniture to.

Project Achievements

The refurbishment included creating new reception and client areas; four internal meeting rooms; five client meetings rooms; two new tea points; and breakout space. 

When it came to designing our meeting rooms, the project team drew style influences from well known urban parks (Figure 4). We wanted our breakout space to become a true social hub. So, in addition to providing facilities to prepare lunches and refreshments, the project team selected furniture that better-enabled socialisation and collaboration in a relaxed setting.

The office's colour scheme uses neutral tones to promote calm and serenity with numerous indoor plants to boost wellbeing.

The following achievements were made in several key areas: 

	Carbon Emissions Fit-out reduced CO2 emissions by 34.6%; we achieved reductions by replacing lighting fixtures and installing daylight and occupancy sensors
	Energy Usage Fit-out reduced energy consumption of the building by 34.3% Over 90% of the estimated annual energy consumption is sub-metered to various end-use categories (i.e. space heating, cooling etc.)
	Occupier Satisfaction All tested spaces complied with the requirements for ambient noise, reverberation, and sound insulation 81.10% of assessed floor area has an average daylight factor exceeding 2%
	Water Efficiency 14.6% reduction in water consumption; achieved by the installation of flow restrictors and low water consumption dishwasher Water meters with solenoid valves, PIR and flow restrictors were installed connected to the Building Management System [BMS]
	Waste Disposal Diverted 98.07% of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste from landfills as per the SWMP Installed bins for dry recyclables, paper and general waste on the Fourth Floor 86 workstations totalling 5.4 tonnes of metal and wood were fully recycled
	Sustainable Procurement All timber and timber-based products used on the project were harvested and traded legally All products used in the project were sourced in accordance with a documented sustainable procurement plan
	Community benefit Donated over 400 items of unwanted furniture and equipment to Business2Schools to be reused (Figure 2) Business2Schools provide vital equipment to improve the infrastructure in schools across the UK
	Life Cycle Assessment A Life Cycle Assessment was carried out for the proposed construction works, and fit-out achieved all 6 points available under BREEAM Mat1, plus 1 exemplar point (Figure 3)

Figure 2: Donated furniture being used in schools.

Figure 3: Life Cycle Cost per life stage, part of the Life Cycle Assessment.

Challenges

Initially, achieving a BREEAM rating of 'Very Good' seemed challenging. Given the project's small scale, the design team did not feel that BREEAM was a practical option. As a result, plans to incorporate BREEAM into the project started late into the project. Additionally, budget and time constraints meant that we lost several time-sensitive credits. However, the project team's commitment to incorporating BREEAM drove them to create a successful strategy for achieving the required credits.

Outcome

The collaboration between the design, construction and supply chain partners allowed DTZ Investors to meet the needs of the business and colleagues to create a smart, professional and sustainable workplace. DTZ Investors is proud to have succeeded in meeting our Responsible investments objectives, culminating in attaining the BREEAM' Excellent' score. The project's success has reinforced DTZ Investors’ commitment to sustainability and demonstrated to clients and colleagues that small projects can meet sustainable aspirations.