CASE STUDY | EDGE LONDON BRIDGE Gaining an Edge Smart-office pioneer Edge is coming to London and aiming for the highest ratings possible for Breeam and Well certification. Andy Pearson speaks to Atelier Tens Meredith Davey about balancing sustainability and wellbeing, and designing safe services around Covid-19 I n April, Dutch developer Edge revealed its designs for what it claims will be Londons most sustainable ofce tower. Edge London Bridge is a new 23,500m2, 27-oor commercial ofce tower, to be built in St Thomas Street, adjacent to London Bridge Station on Londons South Bank. The scheme is aiming for Breeam Outstanding and Well Platinum certication, which will make it the rst ofce tower in London to achieve both accreditations at the highest level. Architect Pilbrow & Partners design for the scheme includes faades designed to maximise daylight levels, combined with strategically positioned shading and solid elements to minimise unwanted heat gains and losses. The building is located in a landscaped park, which will be doubled in size as part of the development; the green landscape surrounding the building will continue inside, via a publicly accessible ground oor, which will include extensive vegetation and a coffee bar. The vegetation theme continues vertically, on the balconies of the upper oors. We did not want this building to appear to be sealed off; we wanted something open and permeable and green so weve tried to create an ofce tower with the feel of a smaller-scale building by opening its lower oors to the park for fresh air and daylight, and to encourage interaction with the community and our neighbours, which is important for health and wellbeing, says Bernard Heersche, executive development director at Edge. The project is being designed to create a sustainable working environment enabled by technologies. Heersche says that building CO2 emissions have to be addressed as they make up 32% of the global total. The other issue is that people are not always engaged because of the buildings we put them in they need to contribute to the health and wellbeing of occupants, he says. Alongside sustainability and wellbeing, smart technology is the third pillar of the developers design philosophy. What makes its properties smart is a state-ofthe-art technology platform that connects everything and everyone in the building. The lower oors will open on to a park for fresh air and light 22 June 2020 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE June19 pp22-24 Supp Edge London Bridge.indd 22 22/05/2020 17:35