Troy Wharf

The brief for the building was to provide sustainable high quality office accommodation for the Marble and Granite Centre a leading importer and distributor of natural stones in the UK.

The building incorporates the following sustainable features:
1. The building is heated and cooled via a geothermal heating system. Three 100 meter bore holes in front of the building provide warm water to a heat pump which in turn supply a fully integrated
underfloor heating system and ceiling mounted fan coils.
2. Ventilation to the building is managed by an air supply and extract fan with heat exchanger to minimise heat loss.
3. The building incorporates a south facing sedum green roof, which helps to retain surface rain water and increases biodiversity on site.
4. The building reuses an existing insitu concrete retaining wall there by maintaining the embodied carbon on site and minimising the structure for the new building.

Building methods included: -
1. The building is supported on a new concrete raft foundation supporting a steel structural frame.
2. The new composite floor slabs providing lateral stability to the existing walls. A drained cavity tanking system was designed to deal with the high water table and large area of retaining walls.
3. Internally the unobstructed office areas on each floor are maximised by the positioning of the lift, stair and services at the rear of the plan. The basement provides storage and changing areas along with plant and utility space.
4. The use of natural stone to the floor, stair and work surfaces complements the internal glazed partitions maintaining a light and airy feel to the interiors.

The project is unique in the following areas: -
1. The four storey building is partially submerged into the landscape on three sides within a disused concrete retaining wall. 2. The new building projects above the ground disguising itself to the lake with a south facing mono pitch green roof, creating a fully structural glazed façade overlooking the site.
3. The building is located within a protected Green Belt area therefore the design had to demonstrate no adverse impact on this sensitive environment.
4. The integration of energy saving features ensured the building is an exemplar in sustainable design.

Key challengers included: -
1. Designing an office building within the Green Belt, where new developments are usually restricted.
2. Reusing the existing concrete retaining walls which related to a previous industrial use.
3. Designing a new office building without detracting from the marble and granite slabs stored and displayed on site.

The design solutions to the key challenges are: -
1. Locating the majority of the building underground, and providing a mono-pitch green roof that disguises the structure when viewed from the lake.
2. The existing insitu concrete walls were laser scanned to establish its exact profile allowing new steel frame to be tailors to fit the existing opening. A darrained cavity waterproof system was installed to allow for an moisture ingress through the existing structure.
3. Conceiving a minimal façade appearance of a single plane of frameless glass that helps mirror the surrounding countryside whilst subtly referencing the monolithic nature of the stone slabs.

The client on this project is The Marble and Granite Centre. The company is long established and one of the leading supply of natural high quality stone products in the United Kingdom.

Aluminum Curtain Walling Manufacturer - Schuco International KG
Green Roof Manufacturers - Bauder Limited
Internal Glass Partitions - Planet Partitioning
Fire Protection - Demon Fire Protection
Rubber Flooring - Nora Flooring Systems UK Ltd.
Carpet - Interface
GRG Columns - Ribbon & Reed (London) Ltd.
Stone Cladding, Internal & External Paving, Internal Work Tops - The Marble & Granite Centre
Kitchens - Commodore Kitchens
Joinery & Doors - Doorware Ltd.
Staircase & Balustrades - Archetype Metal Work
Air Supply & Extract System - Allergy Plus Ltd.
Mansafe System - Lloyds British
Steel Cladding - Vespa Double Glazing
Electrical Installations - Jarrards Limited
Ironmongery - SDS
Door Entry System - Allgood
Geothermal Heating Suppliers - Nutherm
Geothermal Heating Installers - Total Concept Solutions
Waterproof Tanking - John Newton & Co.
Platform Lift - Quality Access Lifts
Security System - Croxley Alarm Systems
Sanitary Wear - Amitage Venesta
Acoustic Table Screens - Sound Service (Oxford) Ltd.
Internal Plasterboard, Partitions, Fire Protection, Suspended Ceilings - British Gypsum
External Timber Cladding - Arnold Laver Timberworld