Major Welsh city centre retrofit project now complete

An office building in Cardiff city centre has undergone a huge transformation, making it one of the most sustainable offices in Wales. 

Redeveloped by investor and developer Create, Coal House, described as an ‘ultra-green, next generation office space’ in Dumfries Place, has undergone a significant redevelopment programme. The building, formally known as Dumfries House, now consists of a 30,000 square foot office building that is net-zero carbon in operation, stylishly designed and promotes health, wellbeing and productivity.

A way of ensuring productivity and wellbeing are prioritised can be seen through the vast amount of plants that have been put into the building and natural materials, such as sustainable bamboo, eco-engineered timber and recycled weave flooring.

The new office space, which was announced to have been completed yesterday, is 100% powered by renewable energy, partly by its own solar panels, with an energy-efficient heating, ventilation and comfort cooling system, as well as LED lighting, to keep energy use to a minimum.

Additionally, smart building technology has been installed, including a network of intelligent sensors, which, monitor and manage air quality, energy consumption, temperature and occupancy of the spaces, helping to save energy and money at a time when fuel costs have hit record highs.

Coal House is also equipped with eight electric vehicle charging points and grab-and-go community bikes to enable people to travel whilst reducing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

As well as helping the environment and people save money, the new establishment has a coffee and juice bar included where a proportion of its profits will be donated to a local charity chosen by people who work in the office.

Ricky Humphreys, Director of Create, said: ‘We are delighted to have given a new lease of life to this once dated city centre office building, creating a highly sustainable, future-fit workplace that will provide an inspiring and attractive working environment with plenty of perks for businesses and staff.

‘We set out to achieve an optimal balance between retaining the embodied carbon in the existing building and keeping energy consumption to a minimum, in line with our goal to make Coal House somewhere environmentally conscious businesses would feel proud to be based.’

Kieran Crowe, Director and Head of net-zero buildings at the Low Carbon Alliance, which acted as a consultant on Coal House, said: ‘Coal House has showcased the ability to achieve net zero in operational status and an impressive EPC ‘A’ rating through retrofit, by utilising standard fit-out practices alongside technology.

‘The building self-generates most of its power needs through rooftop PV and does not utilise any fossil fuels. I hope other developers and property funds can take inspiration from this building and understand that great outcomes for the environment are possible and commercially viable.

‘As members and partner of UKGBC’s Advancing Net Zero programme, we have taken Coal House forward as a leading example of retrofit for net-zero.’

Image: Rebecca Noakes Photography