Berkeley Homes’ East Thames HQ

Berkeley Homes aim to incorporate a range of mixed facilities into their residential development.

This ranges from commercial space to student accommodation and senior living housing. Berkeley want to ensure that all the buildings within their developments are sustainable and to achieve this they require these types of buildings to be designed and assessed in accordance with BREEAM.

All commercial space, student accommodation and senior living housing applications submitted to planning during 2014-2016 were designed to achieve BREEAM Very Good or above. This commitment forms part of Berkeley’s ‘Our Vision’ – this involves a set of 10 commitments designed to drive the business forward and includes commitments to implement community plans on developments to facilitate thriving communities, and to ensure that at least 1,500 people across our direct and indirect workforce undertake an apprenticeship or vocational training.

Berkeley’s own HQ building for the East Thames region performs well in areas such as:

  • Transport – Located in the centre of Woolwich Arsenal the development has a very high public transport accessibility rating is incredibly close to lots of amenities. They also ensured that they installed sufficient cycle spaces for staff along with both showers and lockers. The office has no parking dedicated to it which encourages staff to cycle or use public transport.
  • Materials – They achieved 3/3 for responsible sourcing with 62.43% of RSM points achieved. Berkeley Group favour those suppliers who have responsible sourcing certification. Their sustainable procurement policy notes that they give preference to services and materials with a low environmental impact and those which help to minimise issues such as climate change, ecological damage, waste production and water scarcity.
  • Water – A leak detection system was installed alongside the pulsed water meter and solenoid valves were used throughout to minimise any wastage water. They also achieved a 43.5% improvement over baseline performance as they opted for low flushing toilets and showers and taps with a low flow rate.