Arriving on Platform G: Google’s new King’s Cross office

Google’s landmark ‘Platform G’ office development will be arriving in King’s Cross, London in 2024. Andy Pearson talks
to building services consultant Atelier Ten to find out how a BIM model was used to coordinate the highly innovative buildings services design along its 330-metre length

Framing finesse: Paddington Square’s innovative façade

The façade at Paddington Square in West London is anything but straightforward. Mace’s Ovi Mazareanu, and WSP’s Michele Sauchelli and Serena Gugliotta, describe how the client’s demand for energy efficiency and performance led to the design team taking a collaborative and innovative approach

Case study: targeting UK’s highest Nabers rating in Pimlico

The Belgrave Road office development in London is the first to receive a Nabers UK 5.5 target rating for its carefully considered design. Andy Pearson finds out how the rating scheme’s independent design review process drove down operational energy use on the hybrid ambient loop/variable refrigerant flow scheme

Net zero: lessons from practice

A deep-dive study on net zero carbon by architect AHMM is being put into practice at an ambitious mixed-use project featuring two towers in London. AHMM’s Dr Craig Robertson and Dr Simon Hatherley share lessons learned

Current thinking: connecting a large all-electric housing estate in West London

To connect the all-electric Convent Way Passivhaus scheme to the constrained local grid in West London, the project team has reduced the load estimate by 53% compared with the conventional Rule of Thumb calculation method. Andy Pearson speaks to QODA Consulting’s Henry Metcalfe about how this was achieved

Striving for net zero at Foster+Partners’ Battersea HQ

After metering its Battersea HQ, Foster + Partners found that IT, lighting and small power made up a significant proportion of the energy used in the building. As part of the consultant’s road to net zero, Stuart Humber looked at four options for cutting the energy use intensity of office power

Case study: Edge Suedkreuz offices in Berlin

The striking Edge Suedkreuz office development in Berlin required a space-defying chilled beam system design that met the building’s exacting ventilation, cooling and heating demands. Andy Pearson reports

Case study: Battersea Power Station

Battersea’s iconic power station has reopened as a mixed-use development incorporating an innovative services strategy that removed the need for heating and cooling in the gargantuan retail mall. Andy Pearson takes us on a tour

Case study: Houlton School retrofit

Turning a radio transmitter station into a sustainable new school for Rugby involved vastly improving the historic fabric of the building while designing new teaching blocks to a high thermal performance to ensure top marks for low energy use. Andy Pearson reports