The Eco-Factory

The brief included the following requirements:

• The gross area of the building must be 4,645 m2 (50,000 square feet).
• The budget of £2.5m including all fees must not be exceeded.
• The building must be completed within 12 months
• The building must achieve a BREEAM 'excellent' rating.
• The building must provide the best possible example of good environmental design.

The site lies on reclaimed land about 800m from the banks of the Severn estuary. The M4 motorway runs parallel with the Estuary and between the low lying river levels and the dramatic valley and hill escarpments that take off, 800m to the north. The prospect to the south and the River Severn is dominated by the dramatic form of the Tata Steel steelworks at Port Talbot. The new factory can be seen clearly from the motorway and the intention was that the activities in the factory would be partially revealed as ghostly images through the amethyst blue translucent glass. The initial concept was prepared from sketches that dealt with both principles of sustainability, low energy architecture and flexibility. These studies were based on research into the energy performance of industrial buildings in use over the past 20 years.