New HQ provides a test-bed for circular economy design

Architects Corstorphine & Wright design new headquarters to Passivhaus principles.

Unusual Rigging is a bespoke rigging company that specialises in providing services for suspending, elevating or moving equipment, scenery or people within the theatre, stage, museum and engineering sectors. 

The company has a strong ethos towards sustainable building practices and was a finalist in the World Economic Forum 'Circulars' award scheme in 2017 for its innovative approach to circular economic practices. With that in mind, when the company wanted a new headquarters on its 4.75-acre site in Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, they approached architects Corstorphine & Wright to design a building which would be as organic as possible and one which embraced biophilic design principles for the well-being of its staff and visitors.

Consequently, the architects have developed a building, designed to Passivhaus principles, which is an exemplar test-bed project for circular economy principles and low-carbon design. At its core is the circular economy, an approach to building that departs from the linear economy of take, make, use, and dispose to a more circular methodology of using materials with low embodied carbon which can be dismantled and reused at end of life.

Every product used within the scheme was assessed for its contribution towards this goal, from the glulam and timber frame to PV panels, air source heat pumps and rainwater harvesting. Cradle to Cradle certified products were used internally wherever possible for their potential for reuse or recycling. In addition, ‘true cost’ was considered in every design decision. That included not only the market price of products but the hidden cost required to repair the social and environmental damage caused along the supply chain. The building has achieved an EPC A+ rating meaning it produces more energy than it consumes.

The building comprises two rectangular wings linked by a double-height atrium and includes open-plan offices, meeting rooms and communal break-out spaces. With so many hard surfaces and open areas, Troldtekt wood wool acoustic panels were specified across the entirety of the first floor to control the sound reverberation, improving comfort and well-being for the building’s users and providing a visually appealing surface in an unpainted finish.

Tom Harper, managing director of Unusual Rigging, commented “We are on our way to realising a very low embedded carbon build that, operationally, will contribute a huge amount to our strategy as a business to be net zero by 2030. The C&W team have a rare quality of courteously challenging and enquiring whether there is further scope to be explored in realising a ‘circular’ vision. They have presented us with alternative materials, which align with the ideas of regeneration by design and durable designing for eventual ease of disassembly.”

Troldtekt is a perfect accompaniment to this scheme and is another example of how architects, manufacturers and customers can work together towards a common goal. Troldtekt’s wood wool acoustic panels are Cradle to Cradle Certified® at Gold level and manufactured using wood from certified forests (PEFC/09-31-030 and FSC®C115450), positively contributing to a building’s BREEAM, WELL or LEED points. Every part of the product’s life cycle is designed toward circularity from manufacture and use to reuse, recycling or upcycling at the end of its first use cycle.