15 February 2002
Wessex Water Operations Centre wins Building of the Year at RICS Awards 2001
Wessex Water Operations Centre near Bath won the RICS Building of the Year Award 2001, presented at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Awards ceremony in London on 12 February. The centre also scooped the Outstanding Achievement Award in the energy efficiency category.
Architects Bennetts Associates, working closely with consulting engineers Buro Happold, cost consultants Davis Langdon & Everest, construction managers Mace and landscape architects Bernard Ede/Grant Associates, designed the building to deliver a highly flexible and energy efficient workspace.
The centre, built on a rural site on the edge of Bath, was the greenest office building in the UK on completion in July 2000, consuming less than a third of the energy required to power a standard headquarters office building.
Buro Happold partner, Neil Squibbs, said, ‘Wessex Water Operations Centre brings together astute commercial design factors and leading edge environmental design thought. An award which recognises both these aspects is particularly welcome.’
Simon Pott, chairman of the judges, said, ‘The centre is a truly exceptional achievement. It sets the standards that office buildings of the future would do well to emulate.’
RICS president, Peter Faulkner, said, ‘Once again the RICS Awards represent the very best projects in the built and natural environment. The rich variety and range of this year’s entries has meant the judges’ task has not been an easy one.’
Wessex Water Operations Centre was also awarded the BCIA Building of the Year Award 2001.
Press Office and Practice information at www.burohappold.com
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976 offering civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, infrastructure and traffic engineering, geotechnical engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational fluid dynamics analysis, access consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
