The new 776m² office building is set in a rural area on the edge of Ely. The site edges a SSSI (Site of Specific Scientific Interest) which includes the Roswell Pits. The building has been set out simply over two floors in a rectangular form with two mono pitched roofs separated by high level glazing facing north. The ancillary accommodation forms a bank between the main office space and the entrance elevation which faces the new gravel and landscaped car park at the top of the site. This then allows the open plan offices to have spectacular views over the Roswell Pits below. The external materials include two types of brick, panels of cedar boarding and aluminium clad timber windows with a recycled aluminium standing seam roof.

 

Internally, voids between ground and first floor together with the high level openings above form a stack effect which provides natural ventilation to all of the open plan office areas, this is further enhanced by automatically opening windows throughout. The south facing windows have permanent shading provided by a brise soleil at ground floor level and the roof overhang at first floor level. The above points included with many other design and specification decisions have enabled the building to achieve BREEAM excellent rating.

 

The design was driven by the need to deliver a low maintenance building able of achieving an “Excellent” rating under BREEAM.  The roof is covered with recycled aluminium, walls are local brick and cedar boarding, and the windows aluminium faced timber from a FSC source.