The conversion of five listed farm buildings into office accommodation – and the construction of a new building in keeping with the existing five – presented Steven A Hunt & Associates with a challenging brief.

We used Thermal Modelling techniques to design an energy efficient strategy within the parameters of the buildings’ listed status - ensuring energy conservation was built into the project from the outset. We also treated the windows and insulated the roof voids.

Incorporating sustainable technologies, we used a CHP which had been fitted to an adjacent hotel site owned by the same client. The hotel system was generating surplus heat which we piped across to the office development, as ‘free’ heat. We also designed rainwater harvesting for each unit, which was used to service the toilet facilities.

Mechanical and Electrical services were designed to serve each office unit independently, so that the developer could let each office separately. And we met the brief to create a stunningly attractive development with little notice of services, which quickly became fully let to tenants.