Hammerson hires advisers to assess green credentials of its projects

Major client Hammerson has appointed Cyril Sweett and Arup as sustainability advisers for its entire £1.5bn development portfolio.

Hammerson has asked the two firms to find out how “green” practices and designs are on all its live sites and its existing shopping centres.

They will work alongside the teams carrying out projects and identify areas that could be made more sustainable. Hammerson aims to eliminate air-conditioning from all existing and future shopping centres under the initiative.

Cyril Sweett and Arup will look at three key sites between now and the end of the year. In 2007, they will assess the remainder of the portfolio. They have also been asked to persuade retailers occupying Hammerson shopping centres to adopt more sustainable practices. The two-phase project is scheduled to last a year.

The sites set to come under the microscope initially are:

• The Shires shopping centre, Leicester: A £160m upgrade and extension of a mall being built by Sir Robert McAlpine;

• Broadmead shopping centre, Bristol: A £500m joint Hammerson and Land Securities scheme, also being carried out by Sir Robert McAlpine;

• 125 Old Broad Street, London: £150m revamp of the former stock exchange being built by Bovis Lend Lease.

Jon Emery, development director at Hammerson, said Cyril Sweett and Arup had complementary skills. The former had commercial knowledge while the latter had structural expertise. He said: “We want them to inform us of where we can push harder and also how we can get consistency across our portfolio.”

He added he was confident some Hammerson sites had strong sustainable elements already. For instance, at the Shires shopping centre the air-conditioning system, a typical source of carbon emissions, has been removed. Emery said he hoped no Hammerson scheme would have air-conditioning in the future. Instead Hammerson developments will control temperatures though changes to external facades and ground source heating and cooling.

The two people running the contract are Isabel McAllister, associate director of sustainability, Cyril Sweett, and Jonathan Ben-Ami, head of Arup’s environmental management business in London.

McAllister said the contract was the biggest of its type so far for Cyril Sweett and the firm now hoped to offer a similar service to other big name developers.