The partnership between Landid and Brockton Capital has signed up to achieve WELL Building Standard certification for The Porter Building, putting the 120,000 sq ft development in Slough in line to be one of the first office buildings in the UK to attain the global rating when it completes later this year.
The WELL Building Standard is an international performance-based assessment methodology grounded in medical research that is exclusively focused on human health and well-being in the built environment.
Although a handful of major UK office developments currently under construction have registered for the rating, WELL certification is only achieved upon project completion and to date no building has attained WELL Core and Shell certification in the UK.
Designed by architect tp bennett, The Porter Building is set to complete in Q3, putting it in line to be one of the very the first UK office buildings to attain the rating.
Chris Hiatt, Landid director, said:
We are very excited to commit The Porter Building to achieving WELL Core and Shell certification, which is a measure of how healthy a building is for its occupants, and are hopeful that we will be one of the first UK office buildings – if not the first – to achieve certification when it completes later this year.
The Porter Building is bringing an entirely new kind of workspace to Slough. It will offer a fresh and dynamic work environment that meets the growing demand for high quality, well connected office buildings for the next generation of occupiers in the Western Corridor. The workspace will positively impact on business performance, through staff retention and attraction, well-being and productivity and will meet the aspirations of the very best talent.
David Blair, tp bennett director, said:
Working with the client Landid/Brockton, tp bennett’s aim was to embed the wellness concept into the base build. The design brings cutting edge Central London specifications into a Western Corridor office environment and offers the highest quality in building specifics, such as fresh air standards, daylighting, biophilic design and the position and use of work, thoroughfare and breakouts spaces.
Wellness is already a significant element of today’s workplace strategies but still needs to become a fundamental aspect of base build. As a project pursuing Well certification, The Porter Building should help set the standard for future developments and ensure well-being is on the agenda from the outset of development.
The Porter Building is located directly opposite Slough Station, offering connections into London Paddington in just 17 minutes – and when the Elizabeth Line arrives in 2022 journey times into Tottenham Court Road will be slashed to just 32 minutes. Offering 111,000 sq ft of flexible office space over 5 floors, the building features a double height reception with a business lounge and restaurant/cafés that will spill out onto the pavement in front of the station, providing a new amenity for the public. On the 5th floor a 2,000 sq ft communal roof terrace will allow occupiers to socialise, collaborate or host events – offering views over Slough town centre and the surrounding country side.
The building has been designed to a BREEAM sustainability target of ‘Very Good’ and features an atrium filled with plants and natural light. The biophilic design elements aim to reduce stress, enhance creativity and clarity of thought, and improve well-being.
The building also features 100 car parking spaces with 10 electric vehicle charging points, and 100 secure bicycle spaces and showers and lockers for the ever growing number of workers who like to ride or run to work.
Rebecca Pearce, CBRE EMEA Head of Sustainability, said: “WELL building certification is like a ‘nutrition label’ that outlines all the ingredients that go into making a building healthy for its inhabitants, covering things like air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. And it rates a building against those criteria with independent verification.
“So developing a WELL building means focusing on things like improving natural light and air quality and that will help boost the well-being and productivity of workers in the building – and that of course is to the benefit of the occupying businesses. There are a number of projects in the UK that are now registered under the WELL Building Standard but we are hopeful that The Porter Building will be one of the first office buildings to complete and achieve certification.”
According to CBRE’s EMEA Occupier Survey 2017, 72% of occupiers prefer WELL certified buildings.
