Demolition of existing city centre council offices and construction of new replacement Civic Amenity Building over five floors with link bridge to adjacent offices.
The new development consolidated several separate council offices into one building. The building achieved BREEAM Excellent, the only SMBC building to achieve this rating. The building is highly energy efficient, and incorporates a green 'bio-diverse' roof, rainwater recovery system and solar panels.
The planning permission required the building to have a natural stone façade to compliment the towns Grade II* listed Town Hall building adjacent. The stone used for the Town Hall could only be sourced from one quarry and the quantities needed would have seriously depleted the natural resource.
WML worked with the Contractor's supply chain to develop a solution using glass-reinforced concrete panels to elevations above 2nd floor and reconstituted stone panels below.
The final production units could not be differentiated from the natural stone and included faux joint so they appear to have been laid in blocks, with the advantages of being more economic to source, quicker to install without the need for perimeter scaffold, could be delivered "just in time" and erected straight from the delivery vehicle, negating the need for lay down areas on the tight site.
The building won the 2011 LABC Best Sustainability Design - Commercial. It was also a finalist in the Best Large Commercial Building Category.
