We take a client and user focussed approach to deliver added value
Adding Value
We are committed to meeting new challenges. We take a creative and collaborative approach as we embrace change and adapt emerging and evolving technology to provide optimum environmental engineering solutions.
Sustainability
As we face the global climate emergency, and with more than 40% of UK carbon emissions emanating from buildings and construction activities and we provide leading sustainability consultancy to minimize impacts from the development, refurbishment, operation and disposal of buildings.
Driving towards Net Zero Carbon (NZC) requires new skills in the accurate assessment and measurement of embodied and operational energy. As members of the UK Green Building Council, and in keeping with our strong principles of evolution, our team is facing these challenges through the application of new techniques in design and analysis, including Design for Performance and NABERS.
Designing for People
At Wallace Whittle, we are focussed on people; our clients, our staff and those who occupy and use the buildings we help to design.
Typically, more than 90% of our time is spent indoors and we know that the quality of the environment inside buildings impacts how we feel, and our health. In turn our health and wellbeing impacts on our productivity. This highlights the importance of creating a quality environment inside buildings to ensure we make people feel good and have positive experiences. As such, improvements in staff productivity can have significant value for businesses and designing buildings which support this ensures that clients get the best return on their financial investment. This also leverages value for the developer. So, the conversation we are focused on now has shifted from energy, to energy plus happy and healthy.
Creating spaces where people are healthier, happier and more productive is known as designing for Wellbeing, or Wellness. There are various means of quantification of Wellness, and guidance is provided from sources including The WELL Standard, The Living Building Standard, The Fitwell Standard, The BCO Wellness Matters Guide and BREEAM. These are all generally complementary, and the focus is on influencing aspects of design via stimulation of our senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste, to affect the way in which we experience our indoor environment, and optimise our health and wellbeing as a result.
We guide our clients and collaborators through the provision of amenity and designing for Wellbeing, with increased focus in the post Covid 19 world.
Embracing Technology & Innovation
We adopt and adapt emerging and evolving technology to provide optimum environmental engineering solutions and user experience.
Connectivity
IT Connectivity, increasingly leading to Artificial Intelligence and Big Data ultra-connectivity, optimises buildings today. Issues we can assist with include:
- Physical and electronic resilience and redundancy
- High Speed WiFi provision.
- Distributed and boosted Mobile Signal
- 5G Connectivity
- The Internet of Things
- User smartphone interface to appropriate building systems
- WiredScore Certification, demonstrating that digital connectivity is core to the user experience.
Technology
SMART buildings can help optimise energy consumption while offering further capabilities such as ensuring optimal use of office space while also gauging employee productivity.
A SMART building can be defined as one that uses a mix of technology, data analysis and automation to enhance the users’ experience with various building touch points throughout the day. Furthermore, a SMART building may provide a series of operational efficiencies which reduce operating costs and carbon emissions. The possibilities we can advise on are without limit, but some include:
- Visible Sustainability: Harvest and display data including energy, waste, water, air quality
- Seamless Movement: Access and destination control/guidance control using smartphones, wearables or via facial recognition.
- Experience & Gamification: Link art and objects to QR codes, link wearables to step counter display etc.
- Heat Maps: influence demand response, track occupancy and interfaced to room, desk and amenity booking systems via wearables.
- Certification: WiredScore SMART building certification.
Delivering Buildability
Designing buildable solutions delivers benefits in programme, quality, management of risk, reduced waste and on-site health & safety.
Revit & BIM
We are BSI BIM L2 Certified, and this advanced coordination in design minimises abortive redesign, site fabrication and wasted materials. Our application of Revit and Digital Engineering in the form of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a powerful design management and coordination tool. Populating the modelled information with data that can be used to analyse the model drives a more effective design. Further developing this data in the later stages of design, fabrication and installation provides our clients with facilities management information which can be invaluable in operation and maintenance.
Design for Manufacture & Assembly (DfMA)
In line with UK government guidance, we have committed to increasing the use of prefabrication and other off-site construction methods.
Using Digital Engineering, we simplify designs, allowing easier manufacture and off-site fabrication to greater quality and consistency. Once on site, prefabricated components of MEP services are installed more safely, quickly and with significantly reduced risk and waste. We have experience of all common types of modular prefabrication for MEP services and accommodation units.