HSBC says it has achieved the UK's first "Excellent"
green rating for the building of a datacentre.
The bank was awarded the rating for the design and procurement
of its new North London datacentre under the Building Research
Establishment's BREEAM certification.
Sustainability was a key driver in the design and equipment
procurement process and has been worked into the whole lifecycle of
the project, said HSBC.
The building is due for completion in the first half of 2009,
and will be the first of three new HSBC datacentres in the UK which
will all be designed with the same sustainability principles.
Over the next few years, HSBC has committed to spending around
£20m to improve the environmental performance of its office
buildings around the world.
The funds form part of a £45m five year global environmental
efficiency programme to reduce the group's broader impact on the
environment.
HSBC has made a commitment that all new
datacentre builds within its global operations will be designed
according to local environmentally accredited standards, such as
BREEAM and LEED.
The new datacentre is expected to achieve substantial reductions
in annual energy and carbon dioxide emissions, resulting in
substantial cost savings to the business.
Francis Sullivan, advisor on the environment at HSBC, said,
"This rating is a triumph of collaborative working to produce a
truly sustainable design. Datacentres, by definition, are heavy
users of energy. Through the work of HSBC and the expertise of
consultants, the environmental impacts have been minimised, setting
a standard for the UK and HSBC buildings globally."