GE Capital Woodchester
GE Capital Woodchester wished to develop a building to house their expanding European Customer Services Centre. The building is mainly a call centre resulting in a heavy cooling load, normally requiring full air-conditioning. The client had expressed an interest in a low-energy building.
Sustainability
Scott Tallon Walker rose to the challenge by designing on the principle of using the mass of the structure for thermal cooling. Designed on three levels around a large central garden atrium, the reinforced-concrete frame and precast floor slabs with smooth coffered soffits forming the ceiling act as the thermal fly wheel.
Ventilation is by displacement with heat recovery through an air/air heat exchanger. The building won the Best corporate workplace award from the British Council for Offices and the innovation in M&E services award from the ACEI for the low energy design strategy.
