Tempsford Hall was officially opened by Alistair Burt, MP for North-East Bedfordshire, and Kier's outgoing chief executive Paul Sheffield, who is leaving the business at the end of June after 31 years. They were joined at the event by special guest Mrs Bente Kier, wife of the late Olaf Kier, who founded Kier back in 1928, and her two granddaughters.
Following the unveiling of a special commemorative plaque, Mr Burt and Mrs Kier were treated to a demonstration of BIM (Building Information Modelling), an innovative digital construction technology that Kier successfully used in the remodelling of Tempsford Hall – as well as in many of its hundreds of ongoing projects throughout the UK - and given a tour of the environmentally-friendly new headquarters building.
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Visitors were also given an overview of the building's new green credentials, as Kier is actively seeking ways to radically reduce its own carbon footprint and develop a low carbon strategy for the building.
Some of the energy efficient features of the redevelopment include:
• 50kWp Solar PV - two solar PV arrays have produced over 63,000kWh so far, reducing the production of CO2 by 29 tonnes.
• A solar thermal system has been installed to offset 50% of the current hot water demand. So far this has provided 10,000kWh and a 4.5 tonne reduction in CO2.
• Improved thermal performance of windows, doors, walls and roof insulation has saved 77,300 kWh or 21 tonnes of CO2.
Kier expects its total energy saving for Tempsford Hall to be in the region of 350,000kWh in the first full year of operation - the equivalent of nearly 110 tonnes of CO2.
(CD/JP)
