Autodesk reduces costs for office development
Environmentally focused design for its new 2000 m2 office at Farnborough is helping Autodesk save over £300 000 in overall costs every year. The office has also achieved a 21% reduction in lighting power and a 21% reduction in water use compared to the previous space. The office is also on track for the LEED Gold Commercial Interiors and SKA Silver certification.
Joe Chen, vice president of corporate real estate and facilities at Autodesk, explains, ‘By using our own software to design and build these spaces, we’re not only reducing our greenhouse-gas footprint, but also providing real working examples of sustainable design for our customers.’
The project design partner Morgan Lovell used Autodesk 3ds Max Design visualisation software to create photo-realistic renderings that helps educate employees about the new space. This encouraged use of the mobile-working desk-sharing features, as well as tele-commuting. About 750 m2 of space has been saved, with a corresponding decrease in energy use.
By factoring in the new lease and depreciation costs, Autodesk reduced the overall cost of its Farnborough office by £300 000 a year.
Most of the new office spaces are powered by green energy, bringing renewables to nearly 30% of the company’s energy use. Many of the new spaces have plumbing fixtures that can reduce water use by over 40% compared to conventional fixtures.
For many of the new spaces, Autodesk and its design teams used building information modelling.
