Hitachi Capital Office Trowbridge

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An eco-friendly, state-of-the-art office campus created in Trowbridge for Hitachi Capital Commercial Vehicle Solutions. The development creates a high quality business campus, formed around a focal office building set within well-landscaped grounds. The office building enhances an important gateway to Trowbridge and provides a workspace experience that fills the employees of Hitachi Capital with pride and promotes productivity, recruitment and retention.

The development facilitates an efficient business operation and an exemplary level of customer experience via a carefully designed ‘client business journey’ through the site’s landscape and internally within the office building layout.

Hitachi Capital’s flexible and dynamic working aspirations have been achieved via open plan office space plus break-out meeting areas. These include the main hub space that brings staff and clients together in a multifunctioning area at the heart of the building’s operation.

The finished campus, described as a “truly green building”, has transformed the business and working environment for Hitachi Capital and has embodied the company’s business values with an engagement with its business heritage. The campus will allow the business to grow for many years via the new office facility plus the ability to extend their operations through future new build phases while retaining the environmental achievements of the site’s landscaping design.

Executive Summary

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Hitachi Capital Commercial Vehicle Solutions has been associated with the County Town of Trowbridge in Wiltshire for over ten years and is an important player in development of the local economy. It is a dynamic commercial vehicle fleet management business providing bespoke fit-outs to vehicles and fleet finance arrangements.

Growth of the business had, however, been constrained by a lack of space at the company’s former location on the Canal Road industrial area of the town. For the company to remain and grow in Trowbridge, retaining the excellent staff it has been able to recruit locally and creating additional jobs, it needed a rapid solution to deliver expansion potential.

Following is a summary of the principal brief objectives:

� A location within or on the edge of Trowbridge

� A main road frontage

� Retention of staff

� Improve working environment for staff

� High quality standards to reflect Hitachi Capital’s ‘Inspire the next’ vision

� Circa 1,800m² (GIA) office building

� Circa 500m² (GIA) vehicle preparation building

� Staff car parking

� Extensive fleet storage area

� Vehicle sales area

� Capacity for future expansion

The design team was presented with an extreme challenge: to meet a very tight delivery programme responding to urgent growth needs at a site not allocated for development in the local plan. However, very close working with Hitachi Capital to fully understand how the company operates and the requirements in relation to business and jobs growth were vital on this project. It was an important approach in terms of the definition of the brief and in enabling the team to share design aspirations with key local stakeholders during the planning process. The design was shaped around an understanding of Hitachi Capital work flows to foster team working and a high quality customer ‘journey’, drawing on principles of Japanese culture to connect the internal and external spaces, including a welcoming staff garden.

Project Aims and Enterprise

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The development proposal creates a high quality business campus as the HQ for Hitachi Capital Commercial Vehicle Solutions, formed around an elegant curved office building and set within well-landscaped grounds. The office building enhances an important gateway to Trowbridge and provides a high standard working environment to support staff productivity, recruitment and retention. In its layout, the development facilitates an efficient business operation and creates an exemplary level of customer experience. The site has been designed to create a ‘client business journey’ through the landscape plus internally within the office building. This allows Hitachi Capital to promote their professional services and how the company is structured. High

quality standards reflect the Hitachi Capital vision while the building and landscape reflect Japanese culture.

One of the key drivers for the project was to ensure that the site layout and design had capacity for the future growth of the business. The site has therefore been laid out to provide three phases of development, with the first phase (now implemented) forming the key ‘gateway’ building. The following phases are planned to extend the office footprint northwards along the principal road frontage (see phasing plan).

Within the main building, flexibility has been achieved through open plan office space, and

limited reliance on cellular spaces. We have introduced the client to the concept of break-out meeting spaces to instil a more dynamic culture of operation and this has worked well for the client. This approach is further illustrated by the main hub space, which acts as a multi-functional meeting, greeting, presentation and hot-desk space for staff and clients. The hub space also has strong visual links to the landscaping, incorporating a staff garden based upon Japanese principles of the seasons, harmony and tranquillity. This reinforces the embodiment of the business values, engaging with its business heritage and creating a positive and uplifting workspace for its staff.

Utility of the Product

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

WHITEHORSE BUSINESS PARK

MERIDIAN BUSINESS

PARK

**Existing mature woodland

New gateway

Extended woodland belt

Landscaped eastern edge

Views into site

Urban edge

Application boundary

From the assessment the following opportunities and constraints emerged to inform the landscape design.

1. The woodland Planting belt defined the edge of the White Horse Business Park and created a visual buffer with a clear edge between the urban and rural characters. The woodland belt to the south creates a strong landscape foil which screens the recent highway development (B3097).

2. The expansion of the Meridian Business Park beyond the White Horse Business Park Woodland belt has extended the urban fringe character to the Yarnbrook junction.

3. Views from west across the site to the Meridian Business Park could be screened with additional planting to the site boundary.

4. Create an attractive naturalistic landscape edge to the eastern boundary to improve views of the Meridian Business Park

6. There is an opportunity to create a sense of arrival into the the County Town and business park close to the roundabout.

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3.2 OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS

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WHITEHORSE BUSINESS PARK

MERIDIAN BUSINESS

PARK

**Existing mature woodland

New gateway

Extended woodland belt

Landscaped eastern edge

Views into site

Urban edge

Application boundary

From the assessment the following opportunities and constraints emerged to inform the landscape design.

1. The woodland Planting belt defined the edge of the White Horse Business Park and created a visual buffer with a clear edge between the urban and rural characters. The woodland belt to the south creates a strong landscape foil which screens the recent highway development (B3097).

2. The expansion of the Meridian Business Park beyond the White Horse Business Park Woodland belt has extended the urban fringe character to the Yarnbrook junction.

3. Views from west across the site to the Meridian Business Park could be screened with additional planting to the site boundary.

4. Create an attractive naturalistic landscape edge to the eastern boundary to improve views of the Meridian Business Park

6. There is an opportunity to create a sense of arrival into the the County Town and business park close to the roundabout.

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3.2 OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS

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Image 04 Constraints, opportunities and phasing

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Section through building

North site-facing elevation

South road-facing elevation

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During the project’s concept stage, an analysis of Hitachi Capital’s internal team structure was undertaken to understand how individual teams and members of staff communicated with each other. The internal accommodation was subsequently shaped around these internal workflows. The main design was centred around fostering internal team-working via flexible and dynamic workspaces alongside a high quality customer ‘journey’ through the company’s internal structure.

After exploring various workspace strategies with the client, the building was designed with a series of open plan workspaces that would allow Hitachi Capital’s individual teams to communicate with each other and to limit reliance on cellular office spaces. The concept of breakout meeting spaces within each open plan working area on both floors instilled a dynamic work culture, allowing staff members to communicate in quiet areas adjacent to

their individual desks. This approach was developed further via the main hub space, which acts as a multi-functional meeting/greeting/presentation/hot-desk space for staff and clients.

To achieve the above accommodation strategy, close collaboration between the design team members was paramount. Examples include:

� Developing structural designs to ensure the building consisted of no internal columns. This was crucial to the success of creating open, flexible and dynamic workspaces

� Developing Mechanical and Electrical designs to ensure plant equipment was minimised, with the building’s structural designs (namely the steel columns and glulam beams) remaining visible to staff and clients, thus enhancing the perception of open working space and a connection

with the building’s construction techniques. All of the building services (other than light fittings) have been located within the floor void at both floor levels. The natural/mechanical hybrid mechanical ventilation system draws fresh air from the site-facing elevation and is extracted at high level along the road-facing elevation via a series of first floor double height spaces

� Enhancing the flexible open plan working strategy by locating electrical designs within the floor void, allowing the internal layouts to be developed in future

� With the building facing a main road, internal acoustic levels were key to the success of the open flexible work spaces. We developed the ventilation and glazing designs with reference to such acoustic issues while ensuring that staff worked in a well-ventilated/-heated space with good quality daylight

The Accommodation

Ground floor plan

First floor plan

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1. Hub2. Office space3. reception4. Meeting rooms5. Lift6. Breakout space7. Conference room8. Server9. Plant10. Director’s office11. Post room12. Staff garden

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The design team was given the challenge to deliver a ‘truly green’ office campus via securing a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating that would reflect Hitachi Capital’s ‘Inspire the Next’ philosophy. The design team explored the viability of various environmental measures with reference to site conditions plus operational objectives of the building.

The travel plan summarised the site’s good accessibility by existing public transport networks together with new initiatives as summarised below. An appointed Travel Plan Co-ordinator within Hitachi Capital is monitoring, promoting and implementing the initiatives via employee / visitor information on

public transport / Council car sharing networks and undertaking regular staff travel surveys.

Via collaboration between the design team, Hitachi Capital and Midas Construction, environmental measures such as the following were incorporated:

� C02 emissions reduced by 28% above Building Regulations standards via:

à Good levels of insulation to the building fabric, reducing heating consumption

à Energy Efficient Air Source Heat Pump heating technology

à Natural / mechanical hybrid ventilation

system to account for road traffic noise

à Energy Efficient Light fittings with motion sensors

à Air tightness rating of 5 m³/(h.m²) at 50 Pa, which exceeded Building Regulation standards

à 22% of the development’s energy sourced via an on-site Photovoltaic array (25 kWp - 220m² in footprint). This exceeds the UK’s target of 15% of all UK’s energy being sourced from renewable sources by 2020

� Water consumption reduction:

à Various systems such as flow restrictors and water efficient fittings

Sustainability

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� Landscaping works:

à Series of swales provides attenuated surface water run-off plus additional habitats suitable for invertebrates such as damselflies and dragonflies

à Charging points for electric cars

à Secure enclosure for bicycles (ratio 1:7) with shower/changing facilities and locker storage

à Energy efficient external lighting that minimises light pollution

à Dedicated recycling provision

� Ecology enhancement:

à New woodland site perimeter bund formed via surplus excavated soil plus native/ornamental trees provides a ‘green screen’ for the local community plus new habitats suitable for great crested newts, nesting birds, commuting/foraging bats, and other wildlife

� Construction products:

à Responsible and local sourcing of construction products, including the appointment of local suppliers and installers

The development allowed Hitachi Capital Commercial Vehicle Solutions, a dynamic business based in Trowbridge for over ten years, to relocate locally, thereby retaining local staff and allowing growth to create new jobs to boost the local economy.

BREEAM certificate enclosed (see additional material)

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Early engagement by the design team with the contractor enabled the team to optimise the site land modelling to completely eliminate off-site soil disposal. Quantified 3D contour modelling meant that excess soil from the extensive site-wide excavations were utilised in a perimeter woodland bund that enhanced wildlife habitat and screening of the site. This was a practical solution that turned a potentially high cost waste problem into a premium-quality uplift in the design solution. The landscape outlook from the main building was significantly improved at no extra cost to the client.

In general, collaboration between the design team and the contractor enabled practical design enhancements to be incorporated within the overall project budget. For example:

� Oak was introduced to external screens and enclosures in lieu of softwood for durability and quality enhancements

� A higher quality brick specification was introduced to improve durability characteristics, and

� Render was switched from a cement-based material to a through-colour polymer product to again enhance durability and maintenance characteristics

A maintenance programme has been incorporated into externalised facility management. Full level hard standing access to the building’s perimeter has been provided for easy access for the two-storey façade. IT solutions within the building have been fibre linked to Hitachi Capital’s group national building so that maintenance and security

of the buildings systems can be controlled through multiple business centres. This was a key operational requirement for Hitachi Capital to maximise flexibility, security and failover capabilities of their overall business operation. The implementation of this brief was a major step up for the quality of business offer and presented a key advantage over their competitors.

The project has earned a BREEAM Very Good rating with solar panels on the roof reducing CO2 emissions by over 25%, and delivering 22% of the building’s energy requirements through on-site renewable sources. This is supported by electric vehicle charging points, energy-efficient lighting and high quality insulation throughout to reduce the heating consumption and overall running cost.

Quality

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The development was designed to ensure the position and massing of the buildings related to neighbouring industrial/commercial buildings. The site landscape/site layout design was generated via a key strategy of ensuring residents were protected in terms of ‘views’ from the local village across the site and the opportunities these visual assessments created for both the residents and Hitachi Capital.

This urban and rural context, with a mix of commercial uses plus a working and residential rural community, provided an important planning context for shaping the development proposal. Consultation with the local community and Parish Council highlighted the importance to them of visual and physical separation between the urban and rural areas and particularly between Trowbridge and North Bradley. The visual

prominence of the existing commercial buildings opposite the site, including night-time illumination, were seen by local residents as an unwelcome precedent.

These factors were translated into key principles for the project brief:

� Enhance the outlook from North Bradley and isolated rural dwellings

� Ensure attenuation of any potential noise impacts and avoid light pollution

� Enhance the quality of the commercial gateway into Trowbridge from the south

� Establish a more distinct and defensible edge to the urban and rural areas

As a result, the development provides:

� An elegant office building on the road frontage, following the curve of the site, to strengthen and lift the quality of this southern commercial gateway to Trowbridge

� A wooded bund wrapping around the northern and western edges of the site to provide a green, rural outlook from North Bradley and scattered rural dwellings and to create a well-defined transition from the urban to rural area

� An acoustic fence, on top of the bund and behind the woodland planting, to mitigate any noise arising from activity within the vehicle preparation centre

� A lighting scheme designed to minimise light spillage

Context

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Our previous premises at Canal Road in Trowbridge served us well and housed the business for over ten years. However, it was originally designed for just 30 staff when we were managing 717 vehicles. Over the last 12 years, Hitachi Capital has grown to manage more than 30,000 vehicles and our employee numbers have increased six-fold.

Our premises in Canal Road was split across three buildings – an inefficient way for us to do business and not conducive to internal knowledge-sharing or communication. It became increasingly clear that we needed to find more suitable premises which would allow us to continue to meet the growing and diverse needs of our customers.

Through close collaboration with the design team, we brought the business together into a single purpose-built campus. The building needed to be visually attractive in a modern style to provide staff, prospective employees and customers with a contemporary environment whilst being sympathetic and sensitive to the environment. The new campus also needed to foster better communication and collaboration between colleagues through improved shared areas, such as The Hub. It was also important to have an increased number of better equipped meeting rooms and teleconferencing services.

After just six months of occupation, we know it has achieved all of these aims. Informal feedback from our staff and customers has told us that the new amenities are improving efficiency and communication while providing our employees with a well-equipped and more stimulating working environment.

By locating the new building close to the former site, we were able to ensure 100% retention of our highly-skilled staff. This was as important to us as it was to our customers in helping to ensure business continuity. We are delighted with the results brought about by Hakuba House – both physical and cultural – and look forward to seeing our business continue to grow into the space allocated for extension.

Jon Lawes, Hitachi Capital

Effectiveness as a Workplace

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Throughout the design process, the design team looked to go the extra mile to eke out the best solution for the client. At the briefing stage, we took the client to see recently completed contemporary work spaces to prompt new ideas and ways of enhancing their staff’s workplace experience. The client’s enthusiasm to engage with this process helped us all to build a new and engaging workplace experience for Hitachi Capital at Trowbridge. The central hub space embodies this collaborative approach to design, bringing the staff and clients together in a multifunctioning space, lifting this from a subsidiary of the

client’s brief and planting this space firmly at the heart of the building’s operation.

This theme runs through into the landscape solution developed for the site. In brief terms, we were required to provide effectively a large parking compound for staff and a vast array of commercial vehicles. Our design solution was to bring this into the vision of providing a client journey experience, from the arrival at the main building to the reed-lined swales walkway link to the vehicle preparation building. Coupled with the bunded woodland perimeter of the site and the subtle Japanese-themed staff garden design, we have created a series

of uplifting views for the staff to enjoy from the building over the newly created landscape. This will become even more uplifting as the planting matures and the seasons ebb and flow.

The net result of this approach has been to create a transformation in the overall workspace experience for Hitachi Capital’s workforce. Their brief was to create a work place that would fill them with pride, and this we have achieved. The benefit to them now of attracting new clients and top staff are starting to be realised, all of which will serve to help them grow and realise their expansive business vision.

Lifting the Spirits

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