The Woodland Trust’s plans for a new headquarters, designed to be an eco-friendly office space have been given the go-ahead.
Designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, the eco-friendly office space will be built across the road from the charity’s existing head office in Grantham.
The proposed three-storey office space will have a curved structure and will be built largley of cross laminated timber - saving carbon dioxide emissions of more than 400 tonnes. The 2,800 square metre scheme will house a conference facility as well as office space and meeting rooms for 200 staff.
Despite efforts to save on the carbon emmissions caused by building predominantly with concrete, the eco-friendly design for the office space bizarrely includes plans to insert rectangular panels of concrete into the ceilings.
These panels should retain heat and work with the building’s natural ventilation. The conference and office space has been designed in conjunction with engineers, who have ensured that plans include the minimum amount of concrete possible in achieving thermal mass
The project’s architect, Matt Vaudin said:”When you do green office buildings, you want to make them naturally ventilated so you fill them up with concrete to create the thermal mass. But it’s not the best thing environmentally because of the carbon dioxide content. There’s lots of whizzy products on the market to deal with thermal mass… but none of them are quite doing the job yet apart from concrete.”
A condition of the planning permission for this new office space is that the Woodland Trust will provide £10,000 towards a green travel bus service.
Woodland Trust Chief Executive, Sue Holden said “We want offices that are both inspirational and as environmentally efficient as we can make them, while keeping a firm hold on costs. This is an investment in the future effectiveness and efficiency of an organisation going from strength to strength”