At Canary Wharf Contractors Limited, we employ a highly qualified team of professionals across all disciplines in design and construction management. We are an integrated part of the delivery team from project inception, throughout the design and construction phase and through to project completion and beyond. It is this integrated approach that allows us to consider and mitigate our environmental impacts through all stages of a project.
Canary Wharf Group has had an Environmental Policy in place since 2000 and as a result of this policy we developed our Environmental Procedures as part of our Integrated Management System, achieving ISO 9001 certification in 2002 followed by ISO 14001 certification in 2005. In 2000 we also implemented a policy of BREEAM assessing all of our commercial office projects, achieving the first 1 million sq ft building to obtain an “Excellent” rating for 10 Upper Bank Street, the headquarters for Clifford Chance, in December 2001.
Canary Wharf is a high density, Grade A office development built around a transport hub. The transport infrastructure in the area has been significantly improved since the construction of Canary Wharf and we have been responsible for the rebuild of the Heron Quays DLR station and are currently involved in the construction of the Canary Wharf Crossrail station. Good transport connections are key to a successful sustainable development with over 93% of employees at Canary Wharf using modes of transport other than cars.
Canary Wharf has been transformed from a derelict, disused dock in to a thriving business district. However, emphasis has also been placed on making Canary Wharf a pleasant working environment by creating parks and open public spaces which has significantly increased the bio-diversity of the estate.
Design Phase
During the design stage we investigate ways of maximising the building performance and efficiency. The starting point is the building façade, which needs to ensure a comfortable working environment for the occupants by minimising solar gain and overheating in the summer and cold radiant affect in the winter. The façade also needs to provide good daylight and views out of the buildings. Detailed studies are carried out on occupancy comfort, energy efficiency and daylight to ensure that the optimum performance is achieved.
In conjunction with the façade performance, we also ensure that the efficiency of the building services maximised by using high efficient equipment, variable capacity control energy recovery, etc. We have used the heat rejection from the office cooling systems to provide “free heat” to the ventilation plant in a number of buildings. We have also carried out studies for future buildings on using the surrounding docks and adjacent river for free cooling and heat rejection.
Our involvement throughout the design and construction process enables us to accommodate our clients’ specific requirements. As an example, on the recently completed KPMG building at 15 Canada Square, KPMG set a target of 50% reduction in CO2 emissions against the notional building for Part L compliance. One of the methods of achieving this target, in addition to the efficiency optimisation, was the installation of an on-site tri-generation (power, heating and cooling).
Construction
Our construction teams’ involvement in the design and procurement stages of the project ensures that our environmental procedures and requirements form an integral part of the project and the trade contractors’ packages. We produce an environmental risk assessment, Construction Phase Environmental Management Plan and a Site Waste Management Plan on all projects. The site waste management plan was developed prior to legislation making this a legal requirement. We have also developed our own web based waste monitoring system to enable our trade contractors to record all waste removed from site.
We carry out regular environmental audits on the projects and include an environmental section on all inductions for site personnel. Every project is registered with the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) and our company target is to achieve a minimum of 35 out of 40 for the CCS audits. In the last two years we have won five CCS national awards including a Gold Award on the 20/25 Churchill Place (BP3/4) project and a Silver Award on the 15 Canada Square/30 North Colonnade (DS3) project.
We are always looking at ways of improving our environmental performance and one area that we have used to good affect is the use of the River Thames for transport. By using the river not only have we reduced congestion and noise from lorry movements on local roads but also CO2 and pollution reduction. It is estimated that we have so far reduced the number of lorry movements on the Riverside South project by 3,400. We are using the docks and river on the Canary Wharf Crossrail station where it is estimated that we will remove 20,000 lorry movements from local roads over the next two years.