Architype Architects

16/06/2023

Heatmapping progress, Building resilience

Our climate action roadmap is a result of extensive collaboration, workshops, and surveys. It identifies areas where we excel and where we strive to enhance our knowledge.

By sharing our journey, we invite others to join us and hold ourselves accountable for meaningful change. Together, let’s shape a regenerative future with our 100-strong team of passionate individuals championing Passivhaus and natural materials.

Discover more about our climate action roadmap: https://www.architype.co.uk/blog/our-climate-action-roadmap/

16/03/2023

We are proud to announce The Entopia Building has been recognized with not only the Best Conservation award, but also the David Mackay Award for Engineering and Sustainability at the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry (CFCI) this week. This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, who have worked tirelessly to deliver a project that meets the highest standards of sustainability.

The judges commented, “This is a clear winner, showing how retrofit and refurbishment can, with determination and skill, achieve extraordinarily high environmental standards. All parties: the client, architect and contractors are commended for not only setting but maintaining the vision for an exemplary and game-changing approach. The aim from the start was to feel normal while being deep green. The process has been recorded and operating standards are being closely monitored with the aim that others can both copy and better it.”

We are committed to continuing our work towards creating sustainable, resilient, and beautiful buildings that benefit communities and the planet.

Congratulations to our team and collaborators who include BDP, Envision, Eve Waldron Design Ltd, Feilden+Mawson, Gardiner & Theobald LLP, ISG, Max Fordham LLP, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and the University of Cambridge ‘s estates division.

“The award win for Entopia is a wonderful recognition of the amazing teamwork that went into delivering this EnerPHit-certified retrofit. We’re proud that the project has transformed people’s experience of the building, with enhanced natural daylight and comfort, and - along with other energy saving measures – promises to deliver a saving of £100,000 a year. To also win the David Mackay Award for Engineering and Sustainability is a particular honour for us as his writings inspired me and so many others to find clarity in the numbers and focus on objectively sustainable design.”- Wendy Bishop, Lead Architect on the Entopia Building

10/03/2023

We’re excited to announce The Entopia Building project has been shortlisted for a prestigious Architects’ Journal Retrofit Award.

This collaborative effort showcases the power of sustainability goals, with a strong focus on circularity, energy efficiency, and carbon reduction to combat climate change. The project developed challenging environmental and wellbeing targets of EnerPHit (the Passivhaus retrofit standard), BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Gold.

Featuring a special incubator hub for eco-entrepreneurs and small businesses, the contemporary headquarters offers sitting and standing desks, teapoints, exhibition and presentation spaces alongside meeting rooms and flexible workspaces. The five-storey building is designed to allow occupants to interact with corporate partners, academic staff, fellows and support staff.

With special thanks to our fantastic collaborators BDP, , Eve Waldron Design Ltd, Feilden+Mawson, Gardiner & Theobald LLP, ISG, Max Fordham LLP, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and the University of Cambridge ‘s estates division.

03/03/2023

How can you make space and time for climate action? Climate activist and architectural assistant Scott McAulay shares his thoughts on the topic, reflecting on discussions at a recent event held in collaboration with ACAN and Architects Declare.

To read more about themes of culture, circular economy and future action, visit our blog!

Architype Making space and time for climate action By Scott McAulay Previous Back to Posts Architype enjoyed welcoming the Architect Climate Action Network’s Climate Literacy Group and Architects Declare into our Edinburgh studio to host the Scottish half of the culmination of their collabora...

02/03/2023

We are delighted to share that Hackbridge Passivhaus Plus Primary School has been shortlisted for a 2023 RIBA London Award ! 🎉

The innovative school represents the best in education design. Situated on a conservation wetlands area of Metropolitan Open Land, Hackbridge Primary combines sensitive design with truly innovative sustainability for a net-zero future – its highly efficient design and renewable technologies means that it actively generates more energy than it uses.

We are honoured to be shortlisted alongside other impressive projects and wish them all the very best of luck!

📸 Jack Hobhouse
🏫 Hackbridge Primary School

10/10/2022

We have two brilliant opportunities to join Architype's team:

1. Passivhaus Designer/Consultant: We are looking for creative and inquisitive technical minds to join our team at Architype. The role is a full time Passivhaus designer/consultant with a proven interest in buildings physics.

https://www.architype.co.uk/blog/architype-is-recruiting-passivhaus-designer-building-physicist/

2. Information Management Specialist: We are looking for an individual who enjoys working collaboratively, is interested in data, eager to learn and pro-active to join our brilliant BIM and IM team.

https://www.architype.co.uk/blog/architype-is-recruiting-information-management-specialist-2/

Both vacancies offer flexible and hybrid working at a choice of our three studios: London, Edinburgh or Hereford.

The deadline to apply is noon on 28th October and full details can be found on our website. We look forward to hearing from you!

30/09/2022

is open for business! Discover the story behind this world-leading ultra-sustainable retrofit as well as the key lessons we learnt from the project here:

https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/about/entopia-building

We are delighted to share that it diverted over 40,000kg of furniture and construction materials from landfill and avoided over 60,000kg of embodied carbon in construction materials. Not only this, but Entopia proves a deep green retrofit can be delivered at a cost competitive to a conventional office refurbishment.

Fun fact: As part of the recycle/reuse strategy, the solar panels on the roof are held up with repurposed lighting rigs originally used on the set of a Marvel film!

Many thanks to our project partners who made this incredible achievement possible Envision, ISG University of Cambridge's estates division, Max Fordham, 3PM, Feilden + Mawdon, BDP and Eve Waldron Design Ltd Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership - thank you all for with us 👏

16/09/2022

We are delighted to let you know that we have opened our new Edinburgh studio space this week!

During the last 2.5 years of working entirely remotely the Edinburgh team has grown to more than 30 people. With working life beginning to return to normal, the time felt right for us to come together in a new physical studio space.

Our new studio space is the Old Assembly Hall in Leith. Built in 1788 to provide a meeting-place for merchants, it included a reading-room, an assembly-room, a coffee-room and a tavern, as well as business offices, so feels a really appropriate building in which to realise our new vision of a creative space in which we can meet, work, network, and host events and exhibitions.

With ‘The Shore’ tram stop literally on our doorstep, once the tram extension opens next year, we’ll be a quick hop from the centre of town. As we move forwards, we are embracing the new flexibility and efficiencies we have all discovered during the pandemic, continuing to utilise Teams/Zoom meetings alongside in person meetings. We will hybrid work, with staff working some days each week in the office and some days from home, or from other locations.

We’ve worked closely with the landlord, the Uffizi Partnership to fully refit the space, including ply furniture and lighting repurposed from our London office, and have plenty of work stations, meeting rooms and flexible space.

We look forward to welcoming you to Architype at the Old Assembly Hall in the near future!

Architype
The Old Assembly Hall
37 Constitution Street
Edinburgh
EH6 7BG

10/08/2022

We're thrilled to announce that the has been awarded the prestigious EnerPHit Classic Standard!

We are proud to have been part of this collaborative project team in the heart of Cambridge.

The standard recognises highly energy-efficient retrofitted buildings that achieve superior energy-saving performance.

Associate and Passivhaus designer Wendy Bishop commented, "To achieve EnerPHit certification is a major milestone in the renewal of Entopia. It reflects great teamwork and collaboration from the whole client, design and contractor team"

Congratulations to the Architype team, as well as project collaborators:

The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, BDP, ISG University of Cambridge's Estates Division, Max Fordham, 3PM Project Management, Envision Group, Eve Waldron Design Ltd and MEAD: Energy & Architectural Design Ltd

Passivhaus Trust

Take a walk through the building here:
https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/news/entopia-building-achieves-enerphit-classic-certification

05/08/2022

Is new build or retrofit the best strategy for your estate?

Perform+ helps you to understand the carbon, energy and design context, so you can make an informed choice that meets your sustainability goals.

Contact [email protected] to learn more.

28/07/2022

It is 388 weeks until 2030. Are you prepared for net zero carbon?

Contact Architype and Perform+ to find out how you can achieve through intelligent analysis and innovative design solutions.

Email: [email protected] for a free one hour consultation

21/07/2022

How do you achieve a zero carbon estate?

Associate and Passivhaus designer Seb Laan Lomas explores the key points to remember when embarking on your zero carbon journey:

💡Reduce: make sure your buildings are high performing, before carbon offsetting
💡Re-use: can your building be reused? Our recent sustainable retrofit saves 78% in whole life carbon compared to standard build
💡Understand your whole life carbon: In a climate crisis it's not enough to just look at embodied or operational carbon. Tools such as ECCOLAB monitor energy, cost and carbon from the earliest design stage
💡Consider the whole estate: work with experts who look at the bigger picture, to find efficiencies that make huge improvements
💡Look to guides such as LETI, the RIBA 2030 RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, The Passivhaus Trust and AECB
💡And then email [email protected] to see how we can help you achieve

Interested in learning more? Read Seb's full post at the link below and get in touch: [email protected].

https://www.architype.co.uk/blog/how-to-achieve-zero-carbon-estates/