Queen Elizabeth Christens World’s Most Environmentally Friendly Building

The structure at One Angel Square looks like no other. Its 14 stories bulge at the middle. Each floor is wrapped in windows of a highly reflective material that gives the building the appearance of a repurposed pie tin. But One Angel Square, despite its somewhat aesthetically challenging looks, has a major upside—it is the most environmentally friendly building in the world. According to an article posted on Link2, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), an internationally acclaimed system of assessing buildings, gave One Angel Square a score of 95.16%, the highest ever awarded.

The building’s many environmentally-friendly features include power generated from crops grown on the group’s farms; heating and cooling the premises by drawing air below the basement and redistributing it at the earth’s core temperature; and a double skin façade that acts as a ‘duvet’ to insulate the offices in the winter and ventilate it in the summer.

The building, which is the new head office of a company named the Co-operative Group, is located in Manchester. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh toured and presided over the official opening in November.