Client: Co-operative Group
Type of works: supply of flooring.
Kingspan access flooring is being installed in one of the largest commercial construction projects currently being undertaken in the North – a new £100 million head office in Manchester for the Co-operative Group.
A total of 27,000m2 of Kingspan RMG panels is being installed in the 15 storey building over a 33 week period. Most of the flooring will have a finished floor height of 400mm to accommodate the building’s air conditioning system.
The Co-operative, its architects, 3D Reid, and the main contractors, BAM Construction, are ensuring that the building will be one of the most environmentally sustainable in Europe and one of the first in the UK to be built to the BREEAM ‘outstanding’ designation.
Tony Grindrod, Construction Manager North West for BAM Construction, said: “Kingspan’s green credentials were an important factor in the company’s selection for this project. Kingspan is committed to recycling and will recycle every item of waste resulting from the flooring installation.”
The new building will be the biggest single expression of the Co-operative’s values and will be outstanding in its environmental commitment to tackling climate change. By building to BREEAM standards the Co-operative aims to save 40-60% of its current energy costs in the head office complex. Featuring a soaring open atrium and a double skinned facade that is key to creating natural heating, cooling and lighting, the new head office is being created using pioneering technology.
It will have its own source of sustainable heat and power generation using bio fuel and waste cooking oil through a CHP (combined heat and power plant). Other eco-friendly features include:
• Heat recovery from the atrium and IT systems to heat the building
• Low energy IT equipment and systems
• Combined used water and rain water recycling
• Low water consumption appliances
• High efficiency lifts
Due to open in summer 2012, the building will accommodate more than 3,000 employees working across the Group’s family of retailing and financial services businesses.