Future-proofing our Buildings: Waldeck's approach to Sustainable Design

The intersection of cutting-edge technology, innovative design, and a commitment to ecological responsibility has given rise to a transformative movement in the construction and development landscape.

We caught up with Luke Mitchell, Associate Director for Mechanical & Electrical Engineering who shared an insight into Waldeck’s current approach to sustainability in practice:

Creating and delivering sustainable building design underpins every project we undertake at Waldeck. Through specialist advice and sustainable design solutions, we enable our clients to deliver projects with reduced environmental impact and buildings which focus on improving the health and wellbeing of occupants.

We take a ‘whole life’ approach, considering both the embodied and operational impacts of our projects, whilst driving clean construction, future proofing and performance verification.

Waldeck are conscious that we work on buildings that have the design lives of decades. Decades when society will have different needs and technologies will change, decades when climate change will bring more extreme weather and also a phase-down of fossil fuels.

As such, we evaluate four key aspects at the start of each project:

Carbon Dioxide Impact
Occupant Environment / Wellbeing
Technology
Natural Resource

By assessing these four prime factors of future variables, it allows us to always have a clear focus on maintaining a long lasting and sustainable built environment.

For example…

Waldeck were recently crowned the winners of the CIBSE Yorkshire Project of the Year for IKEA’s flagship eco retail store in Greenwich, London. This building is proof of future-ready Mechanical & Electrical Building Services design, through achieving the celebrated status of being named as the first retail unit to achieve BREEAM UK’s new Post Construction rating of over 90%.

Additionally, the evaporative cooling system using recycled rainwater on the project also achieved accredited British Research Establishment (BRE) innovation recognition. This recognition is only awarded for exemplary performance and innovation that is not included within, or go beyond the requirements of the assessment criteria. Waldeck’s innovative design knowledge and use of an evaporative cooling system using recycled rainwater created a significant impact on carbon emissions, energy use and of potable water usage.