Case study: Co-operative HQ, 1 Angel Square, Manchester

The challenge

The Co-op wanted to build a landmark building for its new headquarters. The 16-storey, 330,000sq ft building contains general offices, a call centre, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a café, and test kitchens. There is also car and bike parking, loading bays, and ancillary accommodation. Built using a variety of innovative technologies it is one of the greenest buildings of its type.

The objective

To construct a high-quality state of the art, iconic, but low energy use office building.

How local authority building control helped

With an iconic design, a very high environmental specification, and a two-plus year construction period, this was always going to be a challenging project.

But with close cooperation between the architects, contractors, and Manchester City’s building control team, any identified problems were solved quickly.

Particular attention was paid upon access for people with disabilities and the three evacuation lifts, in addition to fire-fighting lifts, helping 1 Angel Square meet the latest building regulation standards as well as BS8300.

Manchester’s building control team had been involved in the project right from the design stage, and as a result, almost 20 different techniques were used in the building to reduce energy consumption and provide a sustainable working environment. Solutions included the use of natural heat and light, combined heat and power, heat recovery systems, high-efficiency ventilation, grey, and rainwater harvesting and re-use, leak detection and shut-off, and variable speed lifts.

The results

1 Angel Place is a UK benchmark for environmental sustainability and is one of the first buildings to gain an outstanding BREEAM rating – meaning it is 40-60% more energy efficient than other buildings of its type.

It has also gained an Energy Performance Certificate A rating and a Display Energy Certificate A rating making it the first building in the UK to achieve this standard.

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