Strata is the first building in the world to incorporate wind turbines into the body of the building. It is a stunning residential building forming the nucleus of a major redevelopment of the Elephant & Castle. Although like Marmite, as many people hate it as love it!
In my role with URS as Sustainability Advisor to the design team I worked with the architects Hamiltons (now BFLS) and engineers WSP on the original concept and feasibility study.
Paul King, head of the UK Green Building Council is reported in a Guardian G2 article of 19th July as saying that: "You've got to take your hat off to the design team for delivering a building that captures the imagination. I doubt wind turbines will become a common feature in high-rise inner city projects, but without this type of bold innovation, how would we ever know? Developments like this show that sustainability is increasingly becoming mainstream. That's something everyone should celebrate."
The 43 storey, 147 metre high building contains 408 flats, including 25% affordable units, with a separate block provided for council tenants displaced from a nearby estate.
It is anticipated that the wind turbines will generate only around 8% of building's energy needs, although in the long term it is likely to be connected to the Elephant & Castle biomass district heating scheme. Their maximum rotational speed has been restricted to limit noise and vibration transmission to flats below. Although of fixed orientation the turbines have been designed to utilise a wide angle of wind incidence through the use of chamfered nacels. Jonathan Glancey writing in the Guardian says that "It reminds me of the super-modern city drawn by Antonio Sant'Elia, the Italian futurist architect, shortly before the first world war". His Citta Nuova inspiring such film makers as Ridley Scott for his landmark 1982 film Blade Runner. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/jul/18/strata-tower-london-green-architecture .
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