Green light for £31m mass timber office in Greater Manchester

Developer claims Sheppard Robson-designed scheme is greenest of its kind in UKBruntwood has been granted planning permission for a new £31m mass timber office in Greater Manchester.The developer claims that the so-called Ev0 Building, set to be built at Didsbury Technology Park in the south of the city, will be the country’s most operationally efficient new build workspace.It predicts the running costs of the scheme, designed by Sheppard Robson and which will deliver more than 80,000 sq ft of office space over six floors, will be 58% lower than a traditional new build, with a targeted 5.5 NABERS rating – the highest in use.According to Bruntwood, the building’s mass timber frame will capture and store more than 4,000 tonnes of carbon over its lifetime, the equivalent of 2,500 return flights between Manchester and New York.Up to 94% of its energy will be generated by photovoltaics and the remainder will be supplied by the developer’s co-operative wind farm in Ayrshire, Scotland.The building’s façade includes parametric design principles to minimise solar gain and overheating on the south and westerly elevations and maximise solar gain on the north and east elevations.Work on site is expected to begin this autumn and complete late next year.