February 1, 2006—HSBC’s headquarters at 8 Canada Square, London, has been rated ‘excellent’ by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the UK’s leading environmental standards authority. This is the first time that any building in the capital’s Canary Wharf development has received the highest possible rating for site management, BRE says.
The BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), Management and Operation, reviewed factors such as energy, water, and waste reduction as well as considering the impact of the building on staff health and well-being. The building did well in all categories, particularly in its use of energy and transport planning.
Designed by Lord Foster, the 8 Canada Square site became fully operational in 2003. More than 8,000 employees currently occupy the 45-story, 210-meter structure. Key to its design is the use of energy-efficient systems and practices, such as escalators that go into ‘standby’ mode when not in use; energy-efficient lighting and air conditioning units; and recycling zones on each floor.
The building also has its own bottling plant in the basement so that purchases of glass bottles can be kept to a minimum, and a successful Christmas card recycling campaign was recently introduced.
The HSBC Group announced in October 2005 that it had become the first major financial institution anywhere in the world to go carbon neutral. It does this through reducing energy use, buying green electricity, and then offsetting the remaining CO2 emissions by investing in carbon credits.
