A team of leading environmental consulting engineers are playing a key role in the innovative design of a new doctor’s surgery by maximising its ‘green’ credentials and helping it meet the government’s building sustainability standards.
Henderson Green, independent engineering consultant and specialist in sustainable solutions, has been brought on board to ensure the new doctor's surgery in Wickham, Hampshire will get the all-clear when it comes to the green aspects at every stage of its development.

Southampton-based Henderson Green are Accredited Professionals (APs) for BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), the leading assessment tool designed to help both construction professionals and clients understand and mitigate the environmental impacts of the developments they design and build, and this is advocated at government level.

Henderson Green's contract with the surgery involves full sustainable design advice and BREEAM assessments at appropriate stages of the building's development to ensure it gains enough credits to achieve an 'Excellent' rating - and it will be the first time that a local doctor's surgery has ever achieved this prestigious rating.

'We are delighted to have been commissioned at an early stage of this new build and to be involved at every stage of the building's development,' said Rob Pratt, Henderson Green's chairman and a BREEAM Accredited Professional.

'Our clients in Wickham made the right move in bringing us on board from the outset. Being sustainability specialists means we can give robust advice and maximise 'green' design solutions, ensuring the all-important BREEAM credits can be gained from the first stage,' Pratt added.

As a one-stop-sustainability-shop, Henderson Green's role in the doctor's surgery project includes engineering services design, BREEAM Assessors and BREEAM APs to ensure a fully integrated and passive design solution is developed and that BREEAM Excellent is achieved - a requirement by the Primary Care Trust for the funding of the development.

The project is in the early design stages and the BREEAM pre-assessment is done, the results of which indicates how the BREEAM Excellent will be achieved.

Henderson Green's low and zero carbon and combined heat and power feasibility study and dynamic thermal model will enable them to advise its client on the most appropriate renewable energy system to provide a minimum of 15% of the building's energy - crucial to achieving the required energy credits under BREEAM - and also how to optimise the design of passive measures to provide internal comfort.

'Once the contractor is involved in a project it can be too late, as some critical BREEAM credits may have already been lost. Many of the credits are stage dependent so our advice is to get us involved at the grass roots level to ensure the highest BREEAM rating possible is achieved,' Pratt said.

Henderson Green's comprehensive sustainability service includes in-house experts, who are always on hand to assist with queries, Energy Performance Certificates and its aftercare service which ensures the systems in place have achieved the design targets and monitors their performance.