Around the world, properties occupied by Man’s offices demonstrate responsible use of the latest technologies and practices.

 

New Head Office in London

In June 2011 Man moved its London head office to Riverbank House from Sugar Quay and vacated Centennium House. The new office is in a state of the art building with excellent transport links. In considering the design of the building, environmental performance was a key factor.

For more information on the development click here.

 

 

 

Solar panels

Our New York and London properties both benefit from solar panels.

The Rockefeller Center has installed solar panels to cover the roof of 45 Rockefeller Plaza. Its 363 solar panels produce about 70,000kWh of energy making it home to the largest privately owned solar generation station in Manhattan.

Riverbank House has 150m2 of photovoltaic cells on the south elevation of the plant screen at roof level.

 

 

Green roofs and water capture

In the Rockefeller Center, the landlord operates various environmental initiatives for the benefit of the entire complex. On many of the properties, ‘Green roofs’ incorporate rainwater capture systems.

At Riverbank House a green roof using sedum covers the plant area and reduces heat absorption and controls rainfall drainage in addition to the provision of an attenuation tank. In the public areas on the riverside walk wildlife-friendly shrubs have been planted. Biodiversity is further encouraged by the inclusion of nesting boxes at roof level.

 

 

 

Geothermal Heat Pump

Man’s main office building in Pfäffikon has more than 6,300m2 of office space and is built and certified to MINERGIE® standards – the sustainability brand for new and refurbished buildings.

The heating system is designed to get 75% of its requirements from a heat-pump, geothermal probe, with the 25% balance from a gas-fired heater. 100% of hot water comes from the heat-pump, geothermal probe system.

A combined chiller/heat-pump powers the Thermal Active Building System (TABS) which cools rooms in summer and heats them in the winter. The huge amount of waste heat from the chiller, air conditioning and the TABS - mainly generated by the computers, lights and occupants - is stored as geothermal energy in summer and used to fuel the heat pump in winter.

A gas-fired heating system provides emergency backup and supplementary heat on particularly cold winter days. Hot water comes from a heat-pump that also uses the waste heat energy before it goes into ‘geothermal storage’. This system significantly reduces CO2 emissions compared to a conventional oil or gas fired heating system and chiller.

 

Ice Chiller

Rockefeller Center installed a new ice chiller plant to help reduce power usage during peak-demand times. Renewable energy credits are being used to power the plant and to help reduce air pollution.

 

Green electrical power

Electricity used in our Pfäffikon office buildings is ‘green electricity’ generated by hydroelectric plants powered by water in the mountains around the area, for zero direct CO2 emissions.

Electricity supplies for our London office and disaster recovery site are contracted from renewable sources exempt from the Climate Change Levy

Combined Heat & Power (CHP)

A gas-fired trigeneration plant isinstalled at Riverbank House to generate electricity and reduce carbon emissions. This technology involves the generation of electricity on site using natural gas as a fuel source. Waste heat arising from the power generation process is then available for heating or cooling, via an absorption chiller plant. Carbon savings are predicted to be just over 18%. 

 

Water Reduction

Riverbank House uses water-efficient fittings including: dual flush WCs, aerated taps and low flow showers. This is estimated to reduce water use to 4m3/person per year, which is ‘below average’ water use according to CIRIA benchmarks.

Low flow water fixtures are currently being phased in throughout the Rockefeller Plaza development.

 

Purified drinking water systems

The decision to install purified drinking water systems in Man’s main offices was driven by the levels of consumption of plastic-bottled water as highlighted during employee initiatives. Ending our use of plastic bottles has saved money and eliminated:

  • Deliveries, reducing transportation emissions, congestion and pollution
  • Packaging – and its disposal
  • The need for refrigeration for bottles

 

All our offices in Pfaffikon installed Oxymount drinking water fountains last year. Whilst in our London offices all kitchens are equipped with Vivreau dispensers, with chilled still and sparkling water on tap, and reusable glass bottles available for use in conference and meeting rooms.

For more information about Vivreau and Oxymount, please click the logos.

 

 

 

Waste & Recycling

The company aims to recycle as much of its waste as is reasonably practicable - efficient waste management can cut CO2 emissions generated by waste sent to landfill. A review of Man's offices shows that all the major sites are operating responsible recycling systems, with waste separated locally and specialist waste disposal companies contracted by the landlords.

In London, working with Bywaters, our 'two bin' system splits waste into dry recyclables and residual waste. We have removed all under desk bins, substituting desktop bins for dry recyclable waste only, which has improved our recycling rate from 38% in 2008 to 46% in 2011. Food waste is collected by the East London Community Recycling Partnership (ELCRP) and turned into compost that is donated to local gardening projects. Redundant IT equipment and furniture, following our relocation to Riverbank House was donated to local charities with the surplus sold to staff and a furniture repair company. All revenue was donated to our Annual Charity.

 

Energy Reduction

Riverbank House achieved an Energy Performance Certificate rating of C. The rating reflects the potential energy use of the building asset, based on the design of the building and the equipment installed, with the score of 59 being 16% better than the benchmark performance (70) set by the UK Government for this type of building.

The development of Riverbank House benefited from energy reductions from:

  • Lighting
  • Equipment and appliance
  • Heating & air conditioning
  • Facilities
  • Temperature controls
  • Curtain walling system
  • Blinds
  • Destination control lifts

 

The building utilises extensive sub-metering of energy, covering equipment and different areas of the building allowing our Building Administration team to identify exceptional energy use and take remedial action.

 

 

Technology Efficiencies - Global

Virtualisation technology, for both application servers and developer desktops, has reduced our power needs over recent years of growth; 55% of our total server count worldwide is now virtualised. Overall, we are achieving an average of 20:1 virtual to physical servers. Virtualisation in the Global Data Centre is at 70% and increasing. All server technology in the UK has been refreshed with more efficient power supplies and processors. Similarly, all Riverbank House PC desktops are built on new hardware, which is more energy efficient and powerful.

 

Printing Efficiencies

In Riverbank House all printer devices are centralised, reducing operating costs and electrical consumption, with built in energy saving mode.. Printers are default set to black and white, double-sided.