China notches up first BREEAM ‘outstanding’ high rise

A 34-storey office block in Shanghai has become China’s first tall building to gain the BREEAM ‘outstanding’ rating.

Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, No 1 Shanghai will be a 42,000m² steel-concrete structure in the city’s North Bund riverside area.

Due for completion by the end of the year, the building will use water from the Huangpu River for its water-source heat pump and ice-storage cooling system.

It is part of a wider redevelopment that is transforming the North Bund docks area into a marina, and will use the development’s on-site renewable energy centre as its primary power source.

The building also includes designed-in flood-mitigation systems and features water-efficient fittings and fixtures throughout

The Building Research Establishment (BRE) said No1 Shanghai had also been given a high BREEAM score for enhancing the ecological value of the previously-contaminated with the introduction of accessible green space, and indigenous tree and plant species.

The BRE said there were currently more than 20 building projects across China going through the BREEAM certification process.