The Bombay Sapphire gin distillery at Laverstoke Mill in Hampshire, England, has become both the first distillery and first refurbishment to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ design-stage BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) accreditation for its distillery process buildings.
BREEAM is the world’s leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings. It sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the measurement used to describe a building’s environmental performance. To achieve this design-stage accreditation, the project is assessed using a system of environmental measures grouped by management, health and well-being, energy, transport, water, materials, waste, land use and ecology, pollution, and innovation. The ‘Outstanding’ score awarded to the Bombay Sapphire designs will be validated upon completion when the final certification will be awarded.
The ‘Outstanding’ design-stage rating given to the distillery process buildings at Laverstoke Mill means the buildings have achieved the highest level of sustainable construction, and are expected to be one of the most environmentally friendly distilleries in the world. The completed distillery will see a 60 percent reduction in carbon emissions and nearly an 85 percent improvement over what is required by building regulations. This is as a result of a number of specific technologies incorporated into the distillery’s design, including power generation from the River Test which flows through the site.
The Bombay Sapphire distillery process buildings have been awarded an excellent score of 86.81 percent, the second highest score awarded to an industrial building by BREEAM.
The accolade comes after a careful process that analysed contextual, economic, efficiency and technical feasibility complexities around the site, whilst meeting the specification of building energy efficiency improvements at Laverstoke Mill. The restoration of the site also includes the installation of a combination of on-site renewable energy generating systems, such as power generating photovoltaic cells, a bio-fuelled steam-generating boiler and 6kW hydro-electric water wheel.
The resulting reduction in carbon emissions is particularly striking given that buildings at the site include restored and refurbished Victorian Mill buildings, some of which are Grade II listed (designated as being particularly important and of special interest and protected by UK law), within a Conservation Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Emma Johansson, Global Marketing Manager at Bombay Sapphire, says: “This rating, from the world’s most highly respected environmental assessment method, is a testament to all the care, skill and imagination that has ensured this distillery is built with sustainability at its very core. Bombay Sapphire aims to seamlessly fuse the modern requirements of a premium distillery with the original features of the rich heritage of Laverstoke Mill.”
Martin Townsend, Director at BREEAM, BRE Global, said: “BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation and is the world’s foremost environmental assessment method. We are very happy that the Bombay Sapphire team has achieved this ‘Outstanding’ design-stage certification – this is one of the highest scores under BREEAM and a first in the drinks industry. It is particularly impressive given this is a conversion of an existing building.”
The distillery is set to open in Autumn 2013, and is being built on a two hectare brown-field site, near the grounds of LaverstokePark, just 60 miles from London. For 200 years, the site produced high quality paper for the bank notes of India and the British Empire.
The site is being renovated from a derelict mill into a state-of-the-art premium gin distillery and visitor centre encompassing the highest standards in design, functionality and sustainability.