Commercial
High-performing commercial spaces are proven to drive employee and customer engagement, investor value, and organisational efficiencies.
Commercial real estate says so much about a brand. In a world where buildings are recognised to be one of the biggest contributors to climate change, getting it right matters to so many people.
Driven by environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, funders want to invest in energy efficient, net-zero buildings that integrate seamlessly with their communities.
Decarbonisation is a necessity, but there’s potential collateral damage. Assets which don’t meet the required carbon and environmental reporting standards could become value-less. A ticking time-bomb on the balance sheet. It’s why we design to minimise carbon, address inefficiencies and tackle the ‘performance gap’ in existing stock.
Today’s leading companies know that future success depends on offering a first-class user experience. Digital connectivity, flexibility and wellbeing are driving forward commercial building design that caters for all generations. The physical dynamics of workspace will influence how employees feel about their work. It’s impacting organisational efficiency. It can even be the deal-breaker in the job market.
Creating light, flexible, and easy to maintain commercial spaces, with good acoustics, access to green space, and clear fire safety protocols, will be a positive endorsement for any brand – for developer, investor and occupier. It’s where we excel.
From offices to mixed use schemes to leisure facilities, to re-imagining the high street - whether it’s existing or new - we’re creating sustainable, energy efficient, safe and accessible spaces that deliver value for all stakeholders.
Who we work with
We work with all stakeholders in the commercial sector:
- Developers
- Investors
- End user occupiers
- Local authorities
- Main contractors
- Design teams
- Real estate consultants
It’s a multi-faceted sector, and our experience includes:
- Offices
- Laboratories
- Retail
- Leisure, retail and hospitality
- Heritage
- Airports
- Mixed-use schemes
- Re-purposed assets
Where we add value
In addition to our fundamental engineering design principles, we also address areas that include:
We fully cost the opportunity to invest in renewable energy and collocate where appropriate with energy storage solutions to deliver resilience, generate income and enhance sustainability credentials.
Our building physics specialists will analyse why a building is not performing as intended and not delivering the comfort or energy efficiencies that were predicted. Through a series of operational, control and retrofit measures we turn the dial from under-performance to optimum performance.
We ensure buildings are compliant with all fire safety regulations and for new build, our fire safety engineers will design for compliance with the Building Safety Bill to provide all stakeholders with access to the ‘golden thread’ of information.
We work with a range of stakeholders to model and identify passive design techniques that promote natural ventilation whilst improving the air tightness of buildings to reduce energy wastage. Our structural designs include embodied carbon calculations and advocate the use of more sustainable low-carbon materials.
Through our proprietary software tool, StratEV, we model the requirements and opportunities for charging, and address the supporting utility requirements. It’s an approach that helps to make the best use of available space, creates additional income generating opportunities and future-proofs developments.
For single assets and entire real estate portfolios, we identify both operational and investment opportunities to improve the energy performance of buildings. We fully cost all recommendations and help implement change programmes that deliver the most effective return on investment. It’s an approach that mitigates stranded assets and improves ESG credentials.
We’ve a track record of repurposing all types of existing buildings, in particular the careful and sympathetic re-use of listed heritage buildings. Through our structural, building services and sustainability expertise, we create spaces for today whilst celebrating historic architectural design and providing a living memory of our cultural heritage.
Access to power is constrained and grid reinforcement works that connect sites to available capacity is frequently complex, competitive and expensive.
We take a strategic approach to help you understand your power needs. We assess sites and available capacity, establish the options to scale up your needs, support you with applications and negotiations with the DNOs and cost up options to invest in onsite generation and storage to reduce peak demand.
Commercial spaces are facilitators of economic growth. Get their design and performance right, and everyone connected with them benefits.
