Manchester’s One Angel Square has been named as the Project of the Year at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Awards Grand Final in London.
In the best ever year for entries, more than 600 building projects entered the awards which celebrate the built and natural environment. Awards were presented for building conservation, community benefit, design and innovation, and regeneration.
The overall winning project – a £100 million new headquarters for The Co-operative Group – is the largest commercial office building in Manchester and has also achieved the highest scoring BREEAM ‘outstanding’ office rating in the country, setting a new national benchmark in sustainable design in the commercial sector.
RICS judges said every aspect of the building has been constructed with sustainability at heart, with leading technologies utilised throughout, including underground earth tubes that provide an amount of free heating and cooling. Powered by a pure plant oil-fed combined heat and power system, the building also uses rapeseed oil grown on the Co-operative Group’s own farmland.
Michael Newey, RICS President, said: "Hats off to all those involved in One Angel Square for putting forward such a compelling entry. The quality of the development speaks for itself. As the first BREEAM ‘outstanding’ regional office building in the UK, it goes to show that sustainability, cutting-edge design and architectural appeal can go hand-in-hand.”
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote
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