James Feltham recently spoke with Property Week about how the development of the Nova science scheme in Oxford having recorded the UK’s first-ever score of 100% on a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating.
The sustainability first was achieved by turning the site of a redundant gasholding tower into a 47,745 sq ft lab development equipped with a host of green features and onsite technologies. These include solar-mounted photovoltaics, air-source heat pumps, solar shading and a series of public domain and ecological enhancements.
How did plans come about to redevelop a former gasholder site?
The opportunity arose while we were looking for opportunities for potential redevelopment sites, with a particular focus on the South East. Having previously undertaken several successful projects in Oxford, we know the market very well.
When Southern Gas Networks offered the former gasholder to market for sale, it piqued our interest straight away. The site provided a great opportunity to repurpose a redundant brownfield site and turn it into an exciting mid-tech/life sciences building. This is a vision Wrenbridge and our joint venture partner Buccleuch Property became very excited about.
What do you consider the most significant green aspects of this scheme?
As well as the usual measures that we adopt on all schemes, at this site we completely transformed the external landscaping from a site covered in concrete to a biodiverse habitat. We have enriched the scheme with planting, landscaped areas and water in the external spaces for both staff and wildlife to enjoy.
What was the thinking behind targeting a high score and how was the cost balanced?
Our ethos is to deliver best-in-class buildings with sustainability at the forefront of this. Our belief was for both the occupational and investment markets to buy into this ethos and align with our aspirations, particularly in a market such as Oxford. This is a common theme across our portfolio.
Occupiers are seeing the benefits of buildings with strong sustainability credentials, both in reducing their operational carbon and saving money through reduced energy consumption and energy creation. In turn, our buildings are achieving higher rental values.
Working with a great design team and contractor, we wanted to challenge ourselves and really push the boundaries to deliver Wrenbridge’s most sustainable product yet.
Wrenbridge and Buccleuch Property set out to achieve something neither we nor our peers had achieved before. Having a very close working relationship between the design team, the contractor and all technical disciplines throughout the process allowed us to challenge ourselves and adopt a new approach and way of thinking.
Without this, we could not have achieved such an excellent rating for the building.
How does the scheme fit within the Oxford science cluster?
We have seen an increased focus on the delivery of labs in Oxford, which reinforces our view that the mid-tech offering has been undersupplied. This is particularly true in the Oxford area as it sits close to the Oxford Science Park and the ARC Oxford campus.
We believe this building provides a unique opportunity for life sciences and research and development occupiers to acquire high-quality flexible space so close to a key life sciences cluster.
Do you think other developers should adopt a similar approach to sustainability?
I think Nova sets a great benchmark for the sector and will be something we continually judge ourselves against and look to improve upon. As developers, we continually need to challenge ourselves to adopt new practices and technologies.
We know other developers have set out with a similar ethos and approach, which makes us proud to have achieved the first 100% score alongside our partner Buccleuch Property.
How do sustainability rating systems such as BREEAM help the industry?
The BREEAM rating is a very helpful metric for occupiers and investors to be able to differentiate between buildings, which leads to a standardised understanding of the sustainability rating of a building.
One of the challenges that we face as an industry is to be able to accurately articulate the sustainability specification of a building and to compare between them. BREEAM allows us to do this.