Explore Richmond

Explore Richmond is a sustainable four storey office space refurbished from the ground floor to the third floor with an additional 4th floor rooftop terrace extension. Explore consists of a private club room lounge, outdoor dining courtyard, on-site gym, studio and extensive cyclist facilities to prioritise employee health and wellbeing. The project aimed to create a destination office and with a range of enhanced amenities offered, this has been accomplished.

Sustainable design has been central to the project in all areas, from energy and water to biodiversity and materials. All electric HVAC systems have been incorporated with no use of fossil fuels, contributing to an EPC Rating A. The urban garden and green wall have provided a biodiversity net gain. Explore Richmond has achieved a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating and a FitWel v2.1 score of rating 2 stars. A WireScore Gold Certification has also been attained. Having attained a range of design standard certifications, Explore Richmond is setting the standard for a sustainable destination workspace.

Envision collaborated with the team to first complete the design stage BREEAM Assessment which achieved an ‘Excellent’ rating. For the post-construction assessment, Envision identified that there was potential to uplift the BREEAM rating to ‘Outstanding’ and achieved this at post-construction stage. Envision delivered the assessment as a BREEAM Bespoke assessment which involved liaising with the BRE to confirm the bespoke criteria for the project and followed the specific bespoke requirements to deliver the BREEAM assessment.

Part of our scope was also to complete a FitWel assessment focused on achieving a 2-star rating. We evaluated the site across the twelve categories and identified the strategies to implement which would optimise health and wellbeing for building users.

To achieve both the BREEAM and FitWel ratings, Envision critically assessed the design details and identified areas where sustainable features could be incorporated. This involved reviewing the building design and discussing with the design team on a regular basis where additional features could be incorporated to add value to the building and increase the BREEAM and FitWel score. We carefully considered cost effective options which would provide the greatest return from a sustainability and health and wellbeing perspective.