Hampshire: Bombay Sapphire wins BREEAM award

The Bombay Sapphire gin distillery at Laverstoke Mill in Hampshire has been awarded the highly-prestigious BREEAM Award for Industrial Design at a ceremony held during the Ecobuild Conference at the London ExCel Centre this week.

Competing against several other sustainable construction projects, including Diageo’s Project Phoenix Brewhouse in Dublin; Tudor Estate, Building 1 in London; and the Siemens building in Lincoln, the Bombay Sapphire took first place.

BREEAM, the world’s leading and most widely-used environmental assessment method for buildings, sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the measurement used to describe a building’s environmental performance.

The Bombay Sapphire is situated within a conservation area and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in rural Hampshire. But with natural beauty also comes a rich heritage. For more than 225 years Laverstoke Mill was a hand-crafted paper mill that printed the watermarked banknote paper for the Bank of England and British Empire.

Last year, Laverstoke Mill became the first distillery and first refurbishment to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ design-stage BREEAM accreditation for its distillery process buildings. The distillery has been recognised as a leading example of industrial design demonstrating a holistic approach to the environmental aspects of its design and construction.

Distillation is already taking place on site under the watchful eye of master distiller Nik Fordham, and central to the 2,500 sq m distillery are the still houses. These 18th century buildings are home to the traditional copper stills used by Bombay Sapphire in its unique ‘Vapour Infusion’ distillation process.

The ten exotic botanicals infused into every drop of Bombay Sapphire will also be showcased in their natural state in the intricate glasshouses designed by Heatherwick Studio.

The distillery has a multi-functional renewable energy strategy and scored 100% in the Energy and Management sections and more than 90% in the Water, Materials and Waste sections of the BREEAM award for industrial design.

Fordham commented on the award: “Sustainability is vitally important to Bombay Sapphire and has underpinned all of our plans for the distillery. As such, we were delighted to win this award. BREEAM has kept sustainability high up on the agenda and has provided a benchmarking mechanism that feeds into our corporate sustainability policy and key performance indicators. Fundamentally, we also believe building such a sustainable distillery makes financial sense, increasing efficiency and long-term operational energy and water-use savings. GWP Architecture, working with Meller, has been instrumental in delivering such a state-of-the-art, sustainable distillery. Everyone involved in this inspirational project should be extremely proud of their involvement”.

Throughout the construction process, building materials have been recycled from demolished buildings elsewhere on site, structure and facades have been retained where possible and new materials have been responsibly sourced where possible. The ecological value of the site has been enhanced through native species planting and the re-design of the riverbank to incorporate a biodiverse habitat. This included temporarily relocating more than 400 fish by hand and ensuring that provision was made for colonies of bats and a bevy of otters.

The energy strategy innovatively considers the distillery as a source for a renewable fuel supply. Following distillation the spent botanicals will be used to fuel a biomass boiler providing heat and hot water to the site. The temperature in each of the glasshouses is also maintained using excess heat from the distillation process. Electricity will be generated by a hydro-electric turbine in the River Test and an array of photo-voltaic cells. Restricted water-flow devices are used throughout the site and are assisted by rainwater harvesting.

Barry Rankin, director at GWP Project Services and consultant on the project, added: “This award is a tribute to the entire team. All parties have worked with great care and collaboration to ensure the most cutting-edge sustainable technologies have been woven into the imaginative design and construction of Laverstoke Mill. The result will prove to be a world-class distillery that reflects the values of the Bombay Sapphire.”

The distillery is preparing to open its doors to the public with an innovative and exciting experience. Guests will discover the unique vapour infusion distillation process and 10 exotic botanicals that make Bombay Sapphire such a bright, fresh gin in addition to the stunning natural beauty and heritage of the site when it opens later this year.