Students visit world-class sustainable building 

Following a fascinating guest talk early last week from Meike Borchers of WSP, speaking about environmental rating schemes, students from The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies’ Environmental Design and Engineering (EDE) master’s programme got the chance to visit The Crystal, one of the world’s greenest buildings situated on the waterfront in East London.

The building boasts both BREEAM and Platinum LEED accreditation, the most rigorous international standards for sustainable design and construction. Using solar power and a ground source heat pump to generate its own energy, the building also incorporates rainwater harvesting, black water treatment and automated building management systems. The design of the building’s structure provides superior insulation and takes energy efficiency to a new level.

A thorough tour of the building was provided to students by none other than ex-EDE students Mark Plummer, Associate Director at XCO2 Energy, and by Marjan Gholamalipour, an Environmental Engineer at Arup.

“The Crystal is an ideal showcase of multiple environmentally responsible strategies,” explained EDE Lecturer, Anna Mavrogianni.

“Our students embraced the opportunity to see what a LEED Platinum and BREEAM Outstanding building looks like in practice.”

The building is open for tours 6 days a week, and is a prime example of the incredible resources students at The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies are exposed to.