HLM, with offices in Belfast, has formed an association with GreenBuild Consult to create HLMGreenBuild. The first alliance of its kind, the team will provide comprehensive, design-led, integrated sustainability consultancy.

HLM is an architecture, interior design, landscape architecture and sustainability practice. It has a dedicated in-house team that champions strategies for sustainable design and sets demanding environmental targets so projects address sustainability as a fully integrated part of the design process. GreenBuild is a sustainable construction consultancy, which won BREEAM1 2015 Assessor Company of the Year at the BREEAM Awards and is also the only firm to have achieved a BREEAM Assessment scoring 101.9%.

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As a combined team, HLMGreenBuild will provide consultancy across the entire project process, from the sustainability and design strategy though to compliance, construction on site and ongoing operations. The service will be offered across HLM’s six offices.

Karl Ruddle, who heads up HLM in Ireland said: “This association offers a real alternative to traditional sustainability consultancy for our clients in Northern Ireland and the Republic. Our approach is design-led rather than driven by engineering solutions added much later in the process. We believe that by integrating sustainability from the very start, solutions can be more responsive and innovative, and turn statutory compliance and accreditation into opportunities that add more environmental and commercial value.”

Jon Ridd, Director of GreenBuild Consult, said: “The alliance with HLM will provide a new offer to clients looking to exploit the potential benefits of embedding sustainability in their project. It will use statutory compliance as the catalyst for delivering better performing buildings.”

Local HLM projects that have benefitted from this association to date include Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry, Londonderry, which achieved a BREEAM Very Good rating. A comprehensive approach by HLMGreenBuild was key to meeting the trust’s sustainability objectives which included an energy consumption of less than 55 Gj/100m3/ annum.

HLM’s focus on sustainability in the design of the Community Fire Station at Omagh resulted in very sustainable building that has a 75% improvement over the 2006 Northern Ireland Building Regulation Criterion 1 (SBEM) Calculation, an Energy Performance Certificate rating of A and targeted for BREEAM Excellent Award level. The project was also shortlisted for the Sustainable Building Project of the Year category in the Sustainable Ireland Awards.

HLM’s dedicated and experienced team in Belfast champion a range of strategies for sustainable design including modern, low energy, environmentally responsible passive houses.

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