Ask leads the way in sustainable development at First Street
Date: 29/03/2010
Source: SKV Communications
Having already secured a BREEAM Excellent rating for Number One First Street, Ask Developments are taking sustainability at this strategic city centre development to the next level with the installation of 35 thermal boreholes.
Located on the southern edge of the city, First Street Manchester spans a 20 acre site and will include 1.8m sq ft of offices, around 1,500 key worker homes and student units and 350,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space. The development’s anchor tenants, Manchester City Council, will begin a phased move in from April 2010.
The thermal boreholes measure 15cm wide by 150 metres deep and are currently being installed underneath Southern Square – a stunning new public square measuring a huge 2,100 sq m which is similar in size to Albert Square in Manchester City Centre.
Work on Phase one of First Street’s Public Realm, contracted by Mayfield Construction, is due to be completed in July. It consists of an impressive 16 metre wide tree-lined boulevard, which extends 210 metres in a southerly direction from the junction of Whitworth Street West and Medlock Street and leads down the length of First Street and in to Southern Square. This unparalleled piece of public realm, when coupled with a series of sculptures later in the year, will provide a green oasis for city centre workers.
Installed at a cost of £350,000, the boreholes work by storing energy from the ground, which is then either rejected (cooling) in the summer or absorbed (heating) in the winter. Their use ensures a more efficient building operation in terms of both cost and environment, and are expected to provide immediate benefits.
Boreholes are not new to Manchester, but the scale of the borehole array being installed at First Street will exceed those at any other existing development. The boreholes will be more than capable of supplementing the site’s heating/cooling infrastructure.
John Hughes, Director at Ask Developments, said: “Despite the fragile economy, businesses are increasingly required to implement long-term sustainability strategies and we believed at the outset that it was important to ensure that First Street maintains its position at the forefront of sustainable working practices. While there will be no immediate financial return on our investment in these boreholes, we wanted to develop a long-term strategy that will put First Street ahead of the competition when environmentally aware businesses are once again seeking to invest in new business space.”
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: "Manchester is committed to sustainable design and we have set ourselves an ambitious target of reducing the city's carbon emissions by 41 per cent by 2020 as part of our drive to become Britain's greenest city. This innovative scheme is to be applauded and we welcome the fact that sustainability is at the heart of the First Street development."
Tim Spies, Senior Associate at Norman Disney & Young, Ask’s strategic sustainability advisers, said: “Once operational, the borehole array has the potential to sustain the base heating and cooling demands for the Number One building. The estimated energy contribution of the borehole array is in the order of 300,000 kWh leading to an improved efficiency of the heating and cooling system of up to 10% at various times of the year.”
This significant improvement in the building’s carbon performance is a key part of Ask’s sustainable development strategy which aims to minimise its impact on the environment.
Development of further plots at First Street will continue to allow for the adoption of new sustainable technologies either by way of additional boreholes or alternative renewable energy sources which will be incorporated within adjacent public squares.