FIRST COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS ON MILTON KEYNES ENERGY PARK

In September 1987, the Milton Keynes Energy Park, the first of its kind in the world, announced the start on site of the first two business development schemes. As with the residential developments in the Energy Park (see Property Management Vol 5 No 2: ‘Energy initiatives in Milton Keynes’ by Alan Horton), the promoters of the park, Milton Keynes Development Corporation, have set strict energy cost criteria for all business developments. Work is underway to develop a computer‐based Industrial and Commercial Milton Keynes Energy Cost Index (MKECI), similar to the MKECI used for residential developments, which has been vetted and endorsed by the Building Research Establishment. How‐ever, so that the first business developments in the Energy Park would not be delayed, an interim procedure has been adopted based on the Chartered Institute of Building Services Energy Code (CIBSE) Part 2a. The CIBSE 2a code is recognised within the current Building Regulations 1985, and is deemed to satisfy provision for those energy conservation regulations. The CIBSE 2a code defines a procedure for calculating the thermal and electrical demand, expressed in watts per unit floor area per year, for a building. The Code also provides a more complicated format and procedure for calculating the anticipated total energy demand arising from detailed designs and specifications. This procedure enables a detailed design check to be made against the original energy target at any time during the design stage and is used by Milton Keynes Development Corporation to assess whether a design will produce an acceptable energy performance. Following an assessment of comparative low energy buildings in the UK, Europe and America, the interim Milton Keynes Industrial and Commercial energy target was set at the CIBSE 2a code target minus 40 per cent. Milton Keynes Development Corporation invited submissions from developers for two sites on the Energy Park. As well as meeting the energy performance target, the buildings had to be well designed and commercially viable. And, in order to ensure that the buildings are operated as energy efficiently as possible after occupation, the Development Corporation also requested information on the energy management systems to be employed. The first schemes selected by the Development Corporation are by developers London & Edinburgh Trust (LET) and Bride Hall Group.