European Weather Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts
- Location
- Reading, UK
- Expertise
- Architecture
- Interior Design
- Acoustics
- Landscape Architecture
- Sustainability
- Size
- 6,160 Sq m
- Cost
- £34M
An ambitious new headquarters for an international organisation with climate and sustainability at its core.
BDP was commissioned for the design for the new headquarters for European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) - an international organisation with climate and sustainability at its core and sponsored and delivered by the UK government.
Located adjacent to Reading University’s Department of Meteorology, on the University’s Whiteknights campus, the design includes offices for 300 staff along with Council Chamber, conference, seminar and lecture hall facilities, car parking, staff restaurant with fine/private dining facilities, gym and ancillary support functions. Once complete, the new HQ will house a research institute as well as a 24/7 operational services, producing and disseminating numerical weather prediction to its 23 member states, and undertaking research into climate change.
“This unique, highly sustainable building will sit in a landscaped setting which reflects the parkland ethos of the university campus, with a design that takes inspiration from the nature of ECMWF research and operations. The site itself is surrounded by an unrivalled green, biodiverse setting which integrates the natural surroundings and the building to become a sanctuary on the campus.
“A fabric-first approach allowed us to optimise the building, making decisions on the form, glazing ratios and performance of the façade, as well as consider the minimisation of the use of materials. These are all crucial in our aim to create a project that has low embodied and operational carbon.”
The addition of the new headquarters on the campus will create the largest cluster of weather and climate research and operational forecasting facilities in the world, alongside the University's Department of Meteorology, and parts of the UK Met Office, NERC National Centre for Atmospheric Sciences and NERC National Centre for Earth Observation.
Funded by the UK Government through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the project has high sustainability aspirations and is designed to achieve a UK BREEAM Excellent rating with an aspiration to be a Net Zero Carbon project.
Further Reading
Sustainable weather and climate science building set to be built in Reading
A new, sustainable, state-of-the-art headquarters for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is being built in Reading.