NABERS UK first for Birmingham
Paradise Birmingham has scored a first for the city after its newest commercial building, Three Chamberlain Square, received a sought-after industry accreditation for sustainability.
Paradise developer and asset manager MEPC is committed to a journey towards a net zero future across all of its projects, and is working hard on all of its buildings to make this a reality.
The NABERS UK 5* Design Reviewed Target Rating for Three Chamberlain Square is the first in the West Midlands and one of only a handful outside of London, but which also includes two further MEPC developments, 11 and 12 Wellington Place in Leeds and 4 Angel Square at NOMA in Manchester. This underlines how important long term sustainability of the built environment is to MEPC.
The accreditation recognises that Three Chamberlain Square has been designed with energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption in mind, and is setting a new benchmark for Birmingham and the Midlands, as already recognised by the award of BREEAM Outstanding at its design stage.
Based on a well-established Australian model, NABERS UK is a new system for rating the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and is fast becoming the industry standard for assessing operational efficiency across the full life of a building.
Obtaining a NABERS UK Design for Performance rating is challenging and requires close co-ordination across the design team with key decisions being made early in the design process. The NABERS UK process embeds a pro-active approach to the delivery of a new building, ensuring a commitment to ongoing monitoring, validation and improvement.
This will all result in long-term energy savings and carbon reductions for both landlords and occupiers. It also demonstrates how far Paradise has already come on its journey towards a net zero future for driving positive change for the built environment while providing both social and commercial value for Birmingham.
Alex Housden, development manager at Paradise development and asset managers, MEPC, said:
Three Chamberlain Square is a game-changing building in many ways, one of them being its sustainability credentials and its part in Paradise’s journey towards net zero.
“NABERS UK is helping us strive more smartly towards these goals by providing us with a cutting-edge performance tool that allows us to monitor and constantly improve our sustainability performance. It also underlines our commitment to and utilisation of a world-class standard against which we can benchmark our own progress as well as against other similar buildings across the UK.”
At 189,000 sq ft, Three Chamberlain Square features a low energy and low carbon approach through modern methods of construction and will also be smart-enabled and managed from the outset.
Contractor Sir Robert McAlpine started the two year construction of the Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBStudios) designed building in May 2023, with input from the wider consultant team.
Ross Fittall, Senior Development Manager at Paradise Birmingham development and asset managers, MEPC, added:
As a first for Birmingham, the NABERS UK award for Three Chamberlain Square comes at a key time in the city’s own journey to becoming a greener, healthier, more liveable and more connected place, and follows on from the building’s recent award of BREEAM Outstanding status.
“The Our Future City Plan, 2040, launched earlier this year, gives details about how Birmingham will set and reach ambitious targets towards sustainable growth and prosperity for everyone who lives, works and visits as it becomes a leading global city. Three Chamberlain Square and the wider Paradise estate will play its part in this journey, underlining its role at the heart of Birmingham’s vision for a more prosperous, job-creating and greener city centre.”
The NABERS UK rating helps drive energy efficiency and helps reduce the carbon footprint of the buildings it is accredited to. The system measures rates actual annual energy use of offices, helping landlords to accurately track and communicate the energy performance of their buildings, while also helping to identify areas for savings and improvements.
Michael Gosling, Partner at multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, Cundall, said:
The NABERS UK process has been a key part of MEPC’s brief from the outset.
“We helped by creating a detailed digital model of the building and its systems that allowed us to assess the impact of key design decisions at the early stages and, by the process of continual updates, ensure that the completed building can deliver on its ambitious energy consumption targets in use.”
Paradise has seen a number of key moments over the past year, including a string of new lettings with both office and leisure occupier announcements.
As an important contributor to regional growth, Paradise is committed to creating high quality, new pedestrian streets and squares for everyone to enjoy, as well as improving wider pedestrian and public transport links across the city.
Early work on the access and transport links around Paradise were supported by Greater Birmingham Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP).
Paradise has already completed phase one of the development with One Chamberlain Square wholly occupied by PwC and Two Chamberlain Square providing some of the best views in Birmingham, with stunning vistas across Chamberlain Square itself and of the city’s impressive Classical and Victorian civic architecture. Leisure operators Dishoom, Rosa’s Thai Café and Albert’s Schloss will be joined by the latest attractions and restaurants in the shape of Yorks Café and F1® Arcade, in November.