Brunel House Mixed Use Development

Situated in the heart of Portsmouth’s up-and-coming Gunwharfs Quays and surrounding development area, this iconic project is to house a 200-bed hotel, 500-bed student accommodation for Portsmouth University, 200 apartments, and a mixture of retail and commercial lets. A second site will also be erected for a multi-story car park specifically for Brunel House users. The project aims to provide a focal center adjacent to the busy Portsmouth Harbour station providing a high standard of accommodation for multiple usage types.

Given the importance/significance of the project on the local landscape, Elementa Consulting and the team’s focus has been to provide a blend of uses that benefit the local economy while maximizing the site’s development potential. The rights to light have, to an extent, dictated the form of the building and have presented some distribution challenges, which Elementa Consulting has resolved with the design team. Elementa Consulting has brought its multiple sector experience to the project providing robust and coordinated solutions, particularly in association with plant and riser spaces, to maximize the project’s potential.

Elementa Consulting’s engineering, energy, and sustainability service have focused on a well-coordinated, energy efficient, and sustainable approach. Portsmouth has stipulated high sustainable aspirations for the site; CODE level 5, an overall 15-20% saving in the buildings CO₂ in operation using renewable or centralized district sources, etc. Elementa Consulting’s pre-planning duties, therefore, are very much focused on providing the most economic holistic approach to the scheme as a whole while carefully coordinating with the various tenancy lease and adjacency requirements.

The energy strategy we have produced is therefore focused on the best benefit outcome for the project. The scheme is being fully developed in BIM level 3 using AutoCAD Revit leap by the architect and wholly integrated with the team.