Can old buildings achieve a high EPC rating?
Yes, they can. Our HQ building in Bristol achieved an impressive EPC rating A!
We are very proud to announce, that our HQ building at 2c Flowers Hill in Brislington has achieved the highest EPC rating A. For a 1930’s building, it’s an achievement worth talking about.
The 7,000 sq ft commercial property 2c Flowers Hill is a 1930’s steel frame reinforced building, quite typical of its era. The first mention of the building dates back to 1940’s, when it was used as a bakery for the famous Cadena Café chain. The Bristol branch of the café chain was located at 15-17 Wine Street. Over the time, the property has undergone several alterations and its recent use was a showroom for furniture business Silkox and Son. And we decided to put our own handprint on the building and make it at efficient and smart as possible. So how did we get there?
The building was completely stripped back to its original fabric in January 2021. The ambitious scheme was delivered by the Bristol based designers Fable and Form, who created the design entire around our business. The project was brought to life by the Principal and Main Contractor Chalk Design and Build. It was our aim to recognises the industrial heritage of the building, whilst focusing on smart features and sustainability.
How did we get there?
Making the building watertight.
Old buildings come with all sort of cracks, gaps and holes. To ensure our building was watertight and efficient, we thermo insulated the roof and replaced all windows and doors as a matter of urgency. This also helped with the noise levels and increased security. We also insulated the walls of the property.
Solar power.
Next, we started the installation of solar panels. Our current 98 panel setup enables us to generate 27kW/h at peak capacity, which allows us to run our operation off solar power on most days. Wireless communication with Smart Power Sensor is giving us data in real time. Using the online application, we can see how much power we are generating, storing in our battery or how much power we are sending back to the grid.
One year in, and we can see the impact in real figures. We have saved 10.5 tons of coal from being burned and avoided 11.93 tons of CO2 emissions as a result of using solar panels to power our office.
The 299 Lighting HQ's roof
Lighting.
According to CIBSE Journal, lighting contributes to around 20% to office energy use globally. And as lighting suppliers and consultants, we were motivated to fit our office with the best lighting we possibly could.
All luminaires in our property have been fitted with movement sensors and the whole office is fully Bluetooth Casambi dimmable, meaning the lighting can be easily controlled from the touch of a button on the app. But efficiency wasn’t the only driving factor for us. We wanted our lighting to be also visually comfortable. The main office has been fitted with micro prismatic diffusers, and with CRI 95, creating a highly comfortable and accurate environment.
State of the art A/C and heating system.
Investing into the state of the art Hybrid VRF system has brought many benefits to our daily lives. This latest technology blends the best features of VRF Variable Refrigerant Flow technology and efficiency, with the comfort of a water based Air Conditioning systems. As half of the system uses water and not the traditional refrigerant, we are reducing our CO2 use and using a renewable heat source whilst enjoying the comfort.
Achieving the A rating has been a great journey for our business and one, that the whole team have been proud of. But the journey doesn’t stop here. We are constantly looking into more ways of making our business more efficient and sustainable.
Our office is our pride and joy - and our carefully designed lighting is a big part of that. We can rest assured that not only is our office comfortable and beautiful, it is energy efficient and compliant with all expected regulation increases up to 2030 and beyond. If you want to know how we can help you with a more energy efficient lighting scheme, contact one of our experienced lighting engineers for a consultation. We will be happy to help!
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