SKYSAWA Building A, Poland

The first building in Poland to receive the BREEAM Interim certificate with an Outstanding rating for BREEAM 2016

Project Details

  • Scheme & Version: BREEAM International New Construction 2016 – Office
  • Certification Stage: Interim
  • Rating: Outstanding
  • Overall Score:  90.7%

Project Team

  • Developer / Client: Polski Holding Nieruchomości SPV 1 Sp. z o.o.
  • Architect: “Projekt” Polsko-Belgijska Pracownia Architektury Sp. z o.o.
  • Assessor Company: Go4Energy

About the building

SKYSAWA is a complex of two office buildings designed by “Projekt” Polsko-Belgijska Pracownia Architektury. The complex is currently under construction at the prestigious 36, Świętokrzyska Street, in Warsaw’s central business district. It will fill a lot previously occupied by an old 10-story block of flats built in the 1960s and later turned into an office building. With a rapid development of Warsaw’s office market, which has reshaped the skyline of the city, the old property was out of place and no longer competitive against the office buildings in the area. As it was slowly emptying and degrading, it was finally demolished in 2017.

SKYSAWA’s total gross floor area is 65,000 sqm. Building A will feature 9 floors and offer over 11,500 sqm of lease space. At 155 m, Building B will have 40 floors and offer 28,000 sqm of lease space. The cascade architecture of the complex allowed the architects to create irregular terraces located at floors 4 and 5 of building A, and at floors 3 and 4 of building B. The outdoor lounge area will allow the tenants to hold meetings in a less formal environment, or relax during their workday, thus positively influencing their well-being.

SKYSAWA was designed to fit into the historical and modern contexts of the city, and to provide modern and sustainable office and retail spaces to its tenants. One of the key goals was to create an office building which will encourage tenants to use sustainable forms of transportation. As a result, SKYSAWA will be one of only a few buildings in Warsaw with a direct underground passage to a metro station.

SKYSAWA’s building A underground parking will provide 116 parking spaces for bicycles, 52 parking spaces for cars and four battery charging stations for electric cars. The whole complex (building A and B) will provide over 280 parking spaces for bicycles, a washroom for cyclists, nine battery charging stations for electric cars and 140 parking spaces. Its proximity to bus and tram stops operating numerous lines, as well as the direct vicinity of a bicycle path, allow for easy transport to any part of the city. Moreover, the building is located within walking distance to the Central Railway Station, which enables further travels without the need to use a car.

The building scored particularly well in the categories:

  • Transportation
  • Water
  • Management

The ecological solutions were implemented at the stage of demolition of the old building occupying the lot. All waste generated during the demolition process was monitored and disposed of by an external company specializing in waste processing. The building process is being managed in a way that allows us to limit the amount of waste, the use of water and energy. Monthly measurements of water and energy consumption will be recorded and displayed on site. The main contractor will establish the Site Waste Management Plan in order to clearly define the practices which will be used on this site to maximize diversion of construction waste for landfill disposal. According to the recycled waste target, all construction waste should be recycled in at least 95%. The transport of the materials is being optimised to limit its carbon footprint. The main contractor operates an environmental material policy which promotes use of local materials. Concrete used for structure is manufactured locally – approximately 10 km from the site. The wood used as a temporary material is being sourced from legal sources, independently certified from sustainability-managed sources. Temporarily-used wood is certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council. At later stages the composition and certificates of all materials used for the construction will be verified to ensure their eco-friendliness. The building will be equipped with a water retention system which will allow the use of the rainwater for plant watering.

Why did the building undergo BREEAM Certification?

It was known as early as the concept stage that BREEAM certification would be seeked. Being BREEAM-certified is proof that the building is designed and built in line with the highest standards and with utmost respect for the environment. Additionally, the BREEAM certificate ensures a significant advantage to any office building during the leasing process. Tenants in Poland seek offices which offer lower running costs thanks to modern and sustainable technologies used in the buildings. Moreover, easy access to the municipal transportation system and an infrastructure for bicycles and scooters to encourage green commute, are very sought for.

At the end of the concept and design stage, the Investor implemented a Sustainability Procurement Plan – a policy and procedure that sets out procurement requirements for all suppliers and trades to adhere to relating to the responsible sourcing of construction products.  During the concept and design stage a lot of additional analyses were provided. As the result of BREEAM, the following analyses were carried out;

  • Energy Simulation
  • Life Cycle Cost (LCC)
  • Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
  • Analysis of Thermal Comfort
  • Low and zero carbon, passive design analysis
  • Daylight Analysis

Overview of Green Strategy

  • 95 % of total waste created is diverted to landfill – the main contractor has established the Site Waste Management Plan in order to clearly define the practices which will be used on this site to maximize diversion of construction waste to landfill disposal. Monthly measurements of waste production will be recorded and displayed on site.
  • Use of responsibly-sourced materials – at the concept and design stage, the Investor prepared Sustainability Procurement Plan. At the Design stage, responsibly sourced materials were specified in the Detailed Design. During construction stage, the general contractor will provide certificates confirming responsible sources of materials.
  •  Reduction of energy consumption – a numerical energy model of the building has been developed. A simulation estimated the maximum possible energy savings in accordance with the requirements of the BREEAM International New Construction 2016 ENE01 credit. The results of the simulation were analyzed by Design Team and implemented into the Detailed Design.
  •  Reduction of water consumption – fitting and fixtures specified in the detailed design allow for 65.60% improvements according to the BREEAM WAT01 Water consumption calculator.
  •  Use of rain water for watering plants – in the building, a rainwater tank and rainwater pumps will be installed, which will allow for used rain water to be applied to plant watering.
  •  Reduction of CO2 production during occupation stage – one of the main goals was to encourage tenants to use sustainable forms of transportation. A direct link with the metro station, proximity to bus and tram stops, electric recharging stations, bicycle infrastructure and a walking distance from Central Railway Station all contribute to the reduction of CO2 production as a result of effective occupant transportation.
  •  The value of summer weather external temperature used for dimensioning the HVAC equipment was raised to 35 degrees Celsius, which is higher than both PN code’s requirement and regular designing practice (30 degrees Celsius and 32 degrees Celsius, respectively). Thus, the HVAC systems are prepared for a global climate warming challenge in the future. We are prepared for much hotter and longer summer periods, which may be expected to come.
  •  Chillers were designed and chosen to meet requirements that will be mandatory in Europe after 2021. All are HFO-ready, it means that in a far more distant future, the same chillers are already prepared to switch refrigerant to HFO – having a neutral environmental impact. A special safety factor to the chiller capacity demand was designed. Altogether, SF is +31% – calculated to demands (+8% only for using HFO refrigerant) This environmental-friendly design approach (HFO-ready system) also means a safe future of HVAC system operation should there be global climate warming.
  • All HVAC equipment (AHU’s, fans, fan-coils etc.) is designed with PM and EC electrical motors – being of highest possible electrical energy consumption efficiency.
  •  Rain falls evacuated from roofs are gathered into special retention tanks that allow for use of rainwater later; for the maintenance requirements and plant watering during hot and dry days. Based on rainfall observations in Warsaw over the last 20 years, the retention tanks were designed with a safety factor of +100% to calculated rain water capacity. Such heavy rainfalls may occur as early as once every 5 years, and the periods observed were of 15 minutes. Nevertheless, but the building is fully prepared to collect storm rainwater’s of any capacity. All water meters – every group of water supplied devices are metered – are put under the BMS real-time supervision, so any abnormal water consumption, when indicated, triggers an alarm signal to the facility management shift supervisor for immediate action. To save water, reduction of water losses and consumption is one of the top priorities in this building.
  • An advanced BMS system providing an easy and highly effective way of supervision, controlling, monitoring and optimization of the facility’s infrastructure connected to the system.
  • Measurement of the electricity consumption: Additional measurement system allowing for data transfer to BMS as well as analysis of the current consumption of the electricity will be installed. The systems will allow the supervision of at least 90% of the energy consumed.
  • Electric car battery charging stations: The building will be equipped with 22kW 3f AC dual charging stations allowing for simultaneous charging

Benefits of assessing to BREEAM

The BREEAM assessment process gave us much broader outlook onto the way we should approach design. We learned the importance of combining project management, design and build processes. We are convinced that the eco-friendly perspective allowing enhanced performance should lay at the centre of our future projects. Thanks to BREEAM we noticed the factors that have the strongest impact at the way the buildings should be designed and built – the current and forecast changes in climate force us to take into account the type of materials are being used – if they are certified, how they are sourced and transported. The analysis carried out as a result of BREEAM assessment will become a standard procedure for our future commercial projects.