An Aberdeen firm has announced the completion of its new headquarters, the Active Renewable Energy Centre, which is believed to be one of the most energy efficient buildings in the UK and the only A rated building in Aberdeen.

Active has invested more than £3m into the site which is located in the Minto Commercial Park, Altens, Aberdeen. A combination of office and workshop space, the 1,665m2 building caters for the company's 70 staff in Aberdeen.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) were introduced by the Government in 2008 to encourage improvements in the energy performance of buildings in line with the Kyoto Protocol. Buildings are rated on a scale of A to G with most modern commercial buildings achieving a rating of C.

By using a range of micro-renewable technologies including; ground and air-source heat pumps, solar panels and a road energy system, which soaks up heat from tarmac surfaces, the building has already achieved a rating of A.

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The final stage of the project is to install a wind turbine on the site and the company hopes that by the end of the year the Active Renewable Energy Centre will be one of the first buildings to be completely self sufficient in terms of energy use. The building will generate all of its own electricity and will sell on any excess units to the National Grid.

Ian Nicol Managing Director of Active said: "From the ground up this building has been designed to be extremely efficient. Its exact position on the site has been chosen to minimise heat gain on the south face while maximising the potential of the solar panels on the roof. Internally it makes the most of natural light and ventilation by optimising north facing roof lights.

"Because the building is so efficient at regulating temperature it needs much less energy to function. The energy we do need all comes from renewable sources giving us a drastic reduction in both CO2 emissions and fuel bills."

The typical energy consumption for a commercial building of this style is approximately 190,000kW/hrs with an estimated fuel cost of £15,741 per annum. The Active Renewable Energy Centre is expected to significantly reduce these figures, and even when the wind turbine is excluded from calculations the building will consume an estimated 64,935kW/hrs of energy per annum, with a fuel cost of just £5,195.

The Active Renewable Energy Centre was designed by architects Halliday Fraser Munro and built by Stewart Milne Construction. Together with the engineering team at Active, chartered engineers CCDP (Cameron Chisholm Dawson Partnership) provided the engineering expertise needed to develop the low energy systems required for a building of this nature.

(GK/JM)