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- Customer
- Siemens
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- Completion Date
- 01/07/2012
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- Value
- 75,368 sq ft
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- Program Duration
- 66 weeks
The Project
This unique building is comprised of two distinct ‘crystals’ interlocked by a covered street area. The ‘office’ crystal houses a 270 seat auditorium, meeting rooms, high-specification office accommodation, café and restaurant. The second structure includes a large, interactive exhibition space which showcases Siemens’ sustainable technologies.
The external façades are formed by a series of triangulated facets which undulate in different orientations. The curtain walling façade system is an important aspect of the energy efficiency strategy; achieving excellent air tightness in comparison to traditional construction methods. This outstanding project won the British Council for Offices (BCO) National Innovation Award.
Sustainability
The Crystal achieved the highest international sustainability credentials for a building; BREEAM Outstanding and LEED Platinum and won Most Sustainable Building at London’s LABC Awards. The Crystal uses solar power to generate its own energy. It includes 160, 21m-deep energy piles and an array of 38 x 150m deep geothermal bores to provide 100% of the building’s space heating requirements and most of its domestic hot water heat demand.
Two state-of-the-art heat pumps provide both heating and cooling simultaneously. Only 10% of the water used within the building is sourced from the public main due to the installation of a 60,000 litre rainwater harvesting tank and black water treatment. The Crystal is unique as it is the only building-focussed Water Safety Plan in the country.
The added value
The building has been designed in order to adapt and respond as technology evolves. For example, The Crystal has the potential to interface with London’s future smart grid and the roof-mounted Photovoltaic panels can be easily changed to more efficient arrays in the future.
The sophisticated building management systems allows for ongoing post occupancy evaluation process to closely monitor and meter the building. This information will allow adjustments to be made to the building systems as required to fine tune the operation with the primary objective to utilise less energy.
