As the partner in charge of the redevelopment of the Young Vic Theatre I was pleased to read your article about the project (BSj 12/06), though slightly surprised that there was no acknowledgement of our involvement. I say this in light of the leader article on the important contribution that building services engineers make to the design process and the need for this to be recognised to attract high calibre engineers to the industry.

I agree that building services engineers are underselling themselves. Getting a scheme through planning requires a lot of input from us and achieving planning unlocks a lot of value to the client. Today, people have high aspirations for ‘sustainable’ buildings, and this is increasingly important in terms of letting or selling a building.

Several aspects to the design of the Young Vic are of interest. All of the services are exposed. This was not an approach adopted merely on cost. It was developed with the design team and client as appropriate to the ethos of the theatre. A lot of time and effort was put into ensuring that it did not end up as ‘pipes and wires’ but as an integrated part of the building design. The foyer is naturally ventilated, which required negotiation with building control and licensing, as did the fire strategy and the natural smoke venting issues associated with the auditorium spaces.

We have worked on several projects now with Haworth Tompkins and as a team we have developed an approach to integration of services and issues of sustainability. Our view is that it is about more than reducing the environmental impact of the building. Just as important is the quality of the space: daylight without overheating; fresh air without noise problems; good acoustic quality.

It is an exciting time to be in our industry – influencing and contributing to the design of buildings. Acknowledging this will help to attract good people to work in the industry.

Tristan Couch, partner, Max Fordham LLP

Source

Building Sustainable Design