The Interchange, Cardiff

The Interchange, Cardiff is a new £140m building in the Cardiff Square regeneration scheme which, in addition to office space for Legal & General, will include 318 build-to-rent (BTR) homes and a 14-bay bus station. The scheme was brought forward as a collaborative effort with government stakeholders and Cardiff-based developer Rightacres, creating a world-class regeneration project which sets the city apart as one of the UK’s leading places to live, work and invest.

The move sees over 2,000 Legal & General employees relocate from its existing offices in Cardiff to a modern, eight-storey office space within ‘The Interchange’. It is located alongside the new BBC Cymru Wales broadcasting studio, HMRC and Cardiff Transport Interchange.

The Objective

As one of the largest office lettings in the UK this year, the state-of-the-art new office and associated services have been designed to provide staff with a collaborative, agile space to meet changes to working practices in the wake of Covid-19. With a focus on staff wellness and wellbeing, incorporating cycle and changing facilities, café, social space and an external terrace to meet shifting needs, Legal & General wanted to incorporate their wider commitments to ESG, the fit-out also targeted Net Zero Carbon and reduced embodied carbon throughout the base build and design. 

With WELL Platinum and BREEAM standards also in mind, conducting an AirScore D&O evaluation was a natural complement as part of their design considerations with the AirScore certifications aligning with the WELL and BREEAM standards.

The Outcome

The Interchange achieved AirScore D&O Platinum, signifying best-in-class design and specification for a healthy building that will achieve outstanding indoor air quality. During the review of the design specification, we helped LGIM identify areas of the build they could optimise for Air Quality including increasing the ventilation rate to help control indoor temperature variation as well as removing and diluting indoor airborne pollutants and fitting the highest grade of low-energy particulate filters to reduce the amount of particulate matter entering the building from outdoors.

By also having activated carbon gas filtration to remove nitrogen dioxide, and through careful selection of construction materials to avoid chemical emissions, the Interchange’s design and specification is one of the best across commercial spaces in the UK in terms of air quality performance, pre-occupancy.

The Benefit

Achieving an AirScore D&O has not only proven the high quality of indoor air in The Interchange but has also provided occupants with a greater understanding of the indoor environment.

The AirScore’s value goes beyond certification and offers deeper awareness and understanding of indoor air quality to all who use the building. Having worked with AirRated to optimise the design specification of the Interchange, Legal & General were able to communicate the design considerations they have made to ensure that air quality was to industry-leading standards across the building to the teams working in the space, and how this improves their working environment.

Having achieved AirScore D&O platinum The Interchange has a strong opportunity to go on to achieve a high AirScore, post-occupancy and maintain excellent indoor air quality going forward for its occupants.