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News Release from: Pick Everard | Subject: Design of new eco-friendly offices
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 08 June 2007
Pick Everard design new eco-friendly
offices
Pick Everard, in conjunction with contractors Mansell PLC, has been appointed to design and build new eco-friendly offices for West Somerset Council.
Pick Everard design new eco-friendly home for West Somerset Council New eco-friendly home for West Somerset Council
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 3 Sep 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Innovative multi-regional architectural and engineering practice Pick Everard, in conjunction with contractors Mansell PLC, has been appointed to design and build new offices for West Somerset Council.
The offices are in the small town of Williton, two miles from the north Somerset coast at Watchet and about twenty miles north west of Taunton.
Williton is the administrative centre for the area, and there are ongoing plans to regenerate the town centre; the council office redevelopment at Killick Way is an integral part of that wider scheme.
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"We're delighted to be centralising our workforce in these new offices".
"This is a big investment for Williton, good news for the local economy and a positive move for West Somerset," said Tim Howes, Chief Executive of West Somerset County Council.
"We've put in considerable effort to ensure the building's orientation, layout and design maximise the use of natural light, climate control and energy conservation," he added.
The new offices will replace most of the aging buildings in Fore Street.
They will feature a metal standing seam roof, a design that gives the appearance of traditional lead but without it's inherent problems, with render, glass panel and brickwork walls.
Two floors will consist of open plan offices and meeting rooms, with an executive officers' suite on a mezzanine floor within the roof space.
The work on this GBP3m project is due to start shortly and is scheduled to finish in April 2008.
From the beginning, it was decided that the new building would be as eco-friendly as possible, including reducing the carbon footprint and minimising environmental impact in both building and operation.
The design is intended to achieve a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) 'very good' rating, a standard award to projects that are particularly well managed, ecologically and environmentally friendly, and designed for low energy use and low pollution.
The building will make extensive use of natural light and will include a rainwater harvesting system to reduce the amount of mains water used.
A wood chip boiler will provide heating, and solar panels will generate heat for hot water within the building.
The building will be designed to 'naturally ventilate', which will further reduce the cost of running the offices and their environmental impact.
Pick Everard is intending to expand the highly successful team in Taunton over the coming months, to take advantage of the many opportunities that the South West offers, especially in the education, public works and health sectors.
"We have worked on many varied and prestigious projects in the West Country, for example, for the Ministry of Defence, Wessex Water, Sport England, and now for West Somerset District Council".
"Having our office in Taunton means we are ideally placed to offer a regionally based service using our unique mix of skills," explains Rod Burton, Partner at the Taunton office".
""Our long-established and very successful track record in public buildings and education projects across the UK, makes Pick Everard the ideal project partner for the West Country," he added.
The firm's strategy for expanding its multi-disciplinary capacity to offer a regionally based service has already proved successful in the South East, as it's Bury St Edmunds office is external consultant to both Norfolk and Suffolk County Councils.
It is anticipated that the staff at Taunton's knowledge and experience of local issues will lead to similar successes.
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