Rok’s pioneering attitude towards corporate responsibility and sustainability is demonstrated throughout the development, from the provision of on-site communal bicycles, recharge points for electric vehicles and on-site recycling collection compounds, to the use of local suppliers during construction and local consulting teams.
	BREEAM is a recognised tool used to specify and benchmark the sustainability performance of buildings. It takes into account a number of key performance indicators including energy usage and CO2 emission issues, water consumption and efficiency, the environmental implications of the building materials used and transport and location related issues. Buildings Three and Four are designed to score a BREEAM rating of Very Good/Excellent.
	The offices are designed to minimise energy consumption and CO2 emissions. They use natural daylight whenever possible, with artificial lighting being ‘daylight linked’ so that it’s only operational when natural daylight is insufficient. And heat recovery and energy saving controls on the ventilation systems result in heat that’s usually lost to the atmosphere being recovered and re-used within the buildings. But that’s only part of the story…
	A significant proportion of the heating and cooling demands of buildings Three and Four is met using one of the site’s natural resources – the ground. During the summer, heat is pumped from the buildings into the ground where the earth acts as a cool mass to help maintain a comfortable internal office temperature. In the winter, heat is extracted from the ground to supplement the heating requirements of the buildings. It’s an efficient, sustainable, year-round solution.
	Low water volume appliances and fittings throughout the buildings reduce water consumption while rainwater harvesting allows water to be collected in underground tanks for re-use in the buildings for toilet flushing.