Ashburton Court - TrustNews June 08
At the end of April a group of about a dozen Trust council and panel members were given a tour of the newly completed first phase of the County Council's refurbished offices at Ashburton Court. This followed consultations during the design stage.
The group was shown around by Hampshire's Assistant Director Property Services, Steve Clow, who reiterated the reasons for the project which is costing £40m, including the purchase of other property as part of the County Council's Strategic Property Review. This aims to intensify the use of a core of buildings. The County Council took the decision to refurbish Ashburton Court because it had reached the point where major repair and refurbishment had become essential. "Doing nothing was not an option" he said. External cladding had major defects and most of the services, lifts, windows, internal lighting and ceilings were at the end of their life. Patching up the building was ruled out as costly and an unsustainable investment, not least because of the need to remove asbestos, which had been used extensively throughout the building. Instead the County resolved to strip the building and create a highly sustainable new envelope around the existing structure, aiming to reduce the building's energy consumption by at least 50 per cent through the use of highly insulated materials and natural ventilation, the installation of efficient plant, heating and lighting systems, and the recycling of waste heat from the IT suite. At the same time, it meant the opportunity could be taken to make the building more acceptable to the Winchester scene.
In addition to being more energy efficient, there will be room for over 1000 staff, compared to the 600 who previously occupied the building. The work is being partially funded from capital receipts that will be generated from the sale of vacated offices elsewhere in Winchester. The top deck parking (about 250 spaces) has been relocated to Bar End to be replaced with more office space, a staff restaurant, meeting rooms and landscaped courtyards. The three wings of Ashburton Court are being refurbished in sequence. The east wing is already complete and re-occupied, work is in progress on the north wing and has now started on the west wing. The building is being stripped back to the concrete frame with all the walls, ceilings and services removed. Instead of false ceilings the floors have been raised to take cables below and the ceilings are now the original coffered concrete, simply painted. The concrete is an important part of the energy saving process, being cooled at night by fresh air in summer as well as retaining heat in winter. Ventilation is by large "chimneys" or wind troughs which draw air naturally through the offices from the courtyards. This avoids the need for air conditioning to most of the building.
The offices have been furnished to a good standard with desks and work areas which allow flexible working; lighting automatically adjusts to the correct brightness for the prevailing conditions and senses when people are present.
The outside appearance of the building has been transformed: the height has been reduced and the severe concrete cladding replaced from the ground up, with brick from the local Michelmersh brickworks. The City of Winchester Trust was grateful to have its contribution recognised when Steve Clow and Ian Parker, formerly the Head of Estates, thanked the Trust for its input at the design stage.