Green Building Design to Reduce Energy Use by over 25% in Siefert’s Hexagon Tower, Manchester

This 167,000 sq ft building in Blackley, north Manchester, was designed by Richard Seifert and Partners in 1971 to house offices and labs for ICI. The building is arranged over 12 floors, has over 500 parking spaces and contains offices, a restaurant, laboratories and even its own gym. Bought in 2008 for £2 million by LaSalle Investment Management, the building has continued to attract high-tech and high growth tenants. LaSalle, however, plan to continue improving the Hexagon Tower with a further £1.5 million investment over the next 18 months. To keep this iconic building operating efficiently and to reduce levels of environmental impact, Green Building Design Consultants have been appointed to work with Jones Lang LaSalle, to manage a series of new engineering controls to reduce energy use within the building. By modelling energy usage and designing adaptations to control air flow throughout the whole tower, Green Building Design have predicted an energy saving of over 25%. Whilst the building was at the leading edge of design in the 1970s, limitations with heating and cooling controls mean energy is often wasted in unoccupied areas and air-conditioning and heating systems often operate simultaneously. By introducing a new Building Management System and computer controlled mechanical equipment, such as Volume Control Dampers, parallel heating and cooling are to be avoided and fresh air volumes will be reduced. After work is completed, Green Building Design will monitor the energy use and savings achieved by each element of the design. The savings will be reported to the client on a monthly basis.