One Angel Square
One Angel Square is an office building in Manchester, United
Kingdom. It is the UK’s first building with BREEAM (Building Research
Establishment Environmental Impact Assessment) outstanding rating. Construction
work on the building began in 2010 and ended in 2013. The total construction cost
of the building amounted to £105 million ($156 million).
Design
One Angel Square is a triangular shaped building albeit, one
with gently curved walls. The building is specially designed to reduce the carbon
footprint as well as the energy consumption. It consists of two underground
floors and 14 floors above the ground. Its roof is made by severing the walls
beyond the tenth floor to provide a series of stepped terraces in the upper 4
floors. Natural light enters into the building through the glazed windows of
the upper terraced floors. This natural light then spreads throughout the
building by flooding the full height atrium. This building has a double skinned
façade with heat insulated coating applied to the glazing. This arrangement
keeps the building warm in winter and cold in summer. Additionally, Louvres are
provided at the top of the façade for natural ventilation whenever required.
Energy Consumption
The building emits 80% less carbon and consumes about 50% of
the energy consumed by other similar buildings. It has about 300,000 square feet of exposed foam concrete that works as a heat sponge and absorbs the extra heat from the building to keep it cool. The energy requirements are met
from the building’s own CHP (Combined Heat and Power) system which uses waste
cooking oil and rapeseed oil (produced at the Cooperative’s own farms),
recycling of the heat from the IT section of the building and solar panels
provided on the outside of the building.
Air Conditioning
The air in the building is cooled in the basement before releasing to the atrium. This fresh air is then released to the atrium for circulation throughout the building. The fresh air circulates through all the floors before rising to the top of the atrium for ejection. The building is fitted with Carbon di Oxide sensors to gauge the amount of fresh air in the building thus minimizing the amount of air to be treated.
