The historic quarter of Southwark in London is the location of Great Britain’s first office building that has achieved the internationally-renowned Breeam “Outstanding” rating for particularly sustainable technical building design.
The 10-storey “7 More London” was planned by the architect group Foster & Partners. The use of renewable energies, modern technical facilities and the energetically optimised solar control glass facade keep CO2 emissions low. In fact, they are 74% below the CO2 limit specified in 2006.
Ipasol neutral solar control glass from Interpane reduces the rise in office temperatures in the summer, cutting air-conditioning costs.
Immediately next to Tower Bridge, the glass architecture of the project “More London” rises into the sky. The latest building, 7 More London, the new headquarters of PricewaterhouseCoopers, is located in the historic quarter of Southwark, south of the River Thames.
Having been a dubious entertainments district in the middle ages and the site of Shakespeare’s theatre, it has developed into an economically important centre of the mega-city over the course of the centuries.
The highly diverse quarter, with around 250,000 residents, is home to service providers and lawyers, as well as the Tate Modern gallery — the world’s largest museum of modern art — and to London City Hall.
Harmonious architecture
Neighbouring, centuries-old, historic buildings and modern architecture fits in harmoniously with the cityscape without destroying the quarter’s flair, a mixture that is typical of London.
The More London area has already been under development since 2003. Due to their glass facades, the office buildings have an open, transparent and inviting appearance.
7 More London completes the project. At more than 60,000 sq m, the building’s floor space has the size of four football fields.
It is convincing in terms of architecture as well as technology, due to its innovative shape and the consequent use of ecological and energy-saving technologies and materials — for example the 16,500 sq m solar control glass facade using Ipasol neutral 50/27 from Interpane.
The multi-angled building encloses a polygonal inner courtyard, and the wings of the building are interconnected by curved sky bridges that are several storeys high and concave on both sides.
This very noticeable building opens towards the River Thames. Passers-by strolling along the riverbank can see the building’s highly diverse faces — the smooth, flowing facade of the internal atrium is simple and unobtrusive.
The so-called zig-zag façade around the building is more distinct in appearance because the entire surface is meandering.
The solar control glazing reduces the rise in office temperatures at times of intense solar irradiation.
At the same time, it provides a neutral view to the outside and abundant daylight inside, and electrical lighting needs to be switched on only at a fairly late hour.
The energetic characteristics of the glass help keep the building’s operating costs low. Due to the low total solar energy transmittance, the rooms stay comfortably cool even in mid-summer, and air conditioning costs are substantially reduced.
As laminated safety glass, the glazing also meets high safety standards. On particularly hot summer days, additional protection from the sun is provided by external aluminium slats.
The Breeam “Outstanding” rating method was introduced in 1990 for assessing the sustainability of new office buildings in Great Britain.
It analyses aspects such as energy and resource input, room air quality and the execution and organisation of the construction works.
In order to get the much sought-after rating, the building has to meet strict standards and score at least 85 out of 100 points in the evaluation.
These points are awarded in various fields, including CO2 emissions and energy demand, recycling of materials, management, health and well being, transport, water and land use.
Further technical information can be found at www.interpane.com.
