Award-winning green construction
We were responsible for building the awarding-winning Brent Civic Centre, one of the greenest public buildings in the UK. The showpiece structure in Wembley sits in the shadows of England’s national football stadium.
The 39,948sqm building was designed by Hopkins Architects. It replaced 14 separate buildings that housed most of Brent Council’s services. The new civic centre has offices and facilities for up to 2,000 staff and councillors.
It has a range of community facilities, including a new state-of-the-art library, civic hall, wedding suite and restaurant. It has over 20 event spaces, such as rooms for galleries and exhibitions. Its airy indoor garden and outdoor seating area can accommodate up to 1,000 people.
Outstanding green environment
The civic centre has impressive environmental credentials and rated as outstanding in the BREEAM environmental standards. One of the BREEAM award judges said both the council and Skanska never moved away from the aspiration of delivering an excellent project, worthy of national recognition.
Energy cost reduction
The building uses cutting-edge technology to make it as environmentally friendly as possible. Computer-controlled valves in the heating system, for example, connect it to the building’s intelligent central control unit. The unit can also open windows automatically to improve ventilation and reduce power consumption.
The centre’s carbon emissions have been cut by 33 per cent, thanks to a mixture of energy-saving technologies, including solar shading. Brent Council says the building will save it around £2.5 million a year. Some savings will come through lower heating, lighting and maintenance costs.
Community engagement
We were also recognised by the Considerate Constructors Scheme. In successive years, we won bronze, silver and gold awards for the way we carried out work on site.
We went out to local schools and colleges to explain more about the new civic centre, and about the construction industry as a whole. This included a number of workshops for teachers. A community project was carried out at a local women’s refuge to improve the facilities there.
Award winning project
Brent Civic Centre has won a list of accolades that include:
2014
Construction News Awards: highly commended in the sustainable project of the year category
Civic Trust Award
The Building Awards: sustainable project of the year
British Council of Offices Awards:
Best corporate workplace (joint winner for the London and the south east region)
2013
Structural Steel Design Awards: commendation
Worldarchitecturenews.com civic building sector awards: special commendation
Considerate Constructors Gold Award
Edie 2013 Sustainability Leaders Awards:
URS won sustainable building (public sector) category for its work on the project
2012
Local Government Chronicle Business Partnership Awards: innovation category
Finding out more
BREEAM environmental standards
