The Most Sustainable Manchester Office Building Baa None: How Sheep Make Offices Greener

Today’s Manchester office marketing checklist runs like this: scooters available? Check. Weird breakout space? Check. Sustainability awards? And answering yes to this last question can be a problem.

But it is a breeze for Canada House, the restored textile warehouse on Chepstow Street, which has been awarded a Gold SKA rating — the highest sustainability accreditation available — thanks in part to its landlord’s fascination with sheep’s wool.

The SKA rating, founded by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2009, is an environmental certification system that evaluates commercial fit-out projects according to a set of sustainable ‘good practice’ criteria.

Buildings are judged on more than a hundred measures, covering areas such as energy, CO2 emissions, waste, water, materials, pollution and wellbeing.

Investor Kinrise, previously LJ Real Estate, recently announced that it is to use sustainable materials such as sheep’s wool to insulate its buildings.

The move away from fibre glass in their buildings will lower carbon footprint and support British farmers.

“Sheep's wool insulation is entirely renewable, safer to handle and more environmentally friendly than fibre glass insulation," Kinrise co-founder Sam Lawson Johnston said. "The sheep wool that would have been otherwise discarded has the same insulation performance as manufactured stuff and is a local product meaning it hasn’t travelled far — giving it a lower carbon footprint.”

“All of our buildings are sustainably designed, and centre human, social, environmental and financial capital at the heart of each refurbishment project,” Kinrise co-founder George Haddo said.

“To have RICS recognise this via its SKA rating is a great feeling.”

Notable Canada House features include a sustainably-sourced ‘U-Build’ modular pod, installed in the coworking space in lieu of a traditional meeting room.

The innovative installation was created by London-based architect Studio Bark, which has an ethos ingrained in environmental and ambitious design.

Rainwater harvesting systems have also been installed in Canada House, and are connected to the existing pipework to save on water use throughout the building.

“We’re very conscious of workplace wellbeing and want to know that our tenants’ experience of working in our buildings is the best it can be," Haddo said. "Air sensors can pick up when levels of CO2 are too high and help avoid any unpleasant side effects by prompting tenants to open windows.”