ABSTRACT
Although this offi ce building was completed a decade ago, it still represents a high benchmark for buildings aspiring to be responsive to their environment and using minimum energy to create a comfortable working environment. According to Thomas and Stevens (Thomas 1999), this building is ‘one of the fi rst buildings to result from a holistic view of construction’. The Offi ce of the Future, as it is known, is located at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) on the outskirts of Watford, some 15km north-west of London. Despite being only 300m away from the M1 motorway, the site does not seem to suffer a great deal from noise or air quality problems. It is fairly open and consists mainly of two and three-storey buildings. The location is fairly exposed to wind from all directions, although the south-west direction seems to be prevailing in terms of wind distribution. The design brief asked for a landmark building with the highest in architectural standards, the latest in energy effi ciency innovations and the best possible rating in environmental assessment. In order to achieve such standards, very limiting energy use targets were set. Energy consumption target was set at 47kWh/m2yr for delivered gas, and 36kWh/m2yr for delivered electricity. These fi gures correspond to 34kg/m2yr of carbon dioxide emission. The energy
consumption fi gures represented an improvement of 30 per cent over existing best practice guidelines at the time. In addition to strict limits on energy use, the brief set comfort criteria as follows:
The internal temperature (in offi ces) is not to exceed 28 ● °C for more than 1 per cent of yearly working hours (20 hours). The same temperature is not to exceed 25 ● °C for more than 5 per cent of yearly working hours (100 hours).
