Keynsham Civic Centre
The headquarters for Bath and Northeast Somerset Council serves as an exemplar for sustainability in public buildings in the UK.
It is the first building to employ the full 'Soft Landings' methodology, where the energy performance aims were not just forecast in the design but written into the contract.
The offices have been designed to meet an energy-in-use DEC rating of 'A'. The design includes natural ventilation and the use of concrete 'radiators' for thermal mass combined with a cross laminated timber structure. It also features a system for recovering heat from the IT servers to heat the building. Pipes cast in to the concrete 'radiators' allow for low energy cooling to be added as part of a future climate change strategy.