Scottish Natural Heritage HQ wins BRE office building of the year award

At the BRE Conference in London on 9 May, representatives of Keppie received the BRE Office Building of the Year award for the new £13m Scottish Natural Heritage Headquarters in Inverness.

Now nearing completion, the building achieved a BREEAM score of 84%, confirmed by BRE as the highest score ever achieved by any building in the UK since the system was introduced in 1998.

Keppie Design and Robertson Property won the project for the 6000sqft, passive environmentally designed office in October 2004 as a result of their positive response to an extremely detailed environmental and sustainability brief from SNH.

The low energy building uses solar power within the heating and cooling systems, and the natural materials used are generally indigenous to Scotland and sourced locally. Designed as an open plan flexible office, the building provides an excellent environment for effective working and makes an important statement about sustainable offices.