Pennant Civil Engineering who are a trading division of WJ Harte Holdings Limited has commissioned CRGP Limited to provide project management and architectural services to assist them in developing a site at Oakbank Place, Livingston as their new headquarters.

This will comprise offices, workshop and a vehicle cleaning facility for their groundwork plant.

The project is currently going through the planning approval process and CRGP with the support of Pennant’s managing director, Alan Carr, is investigating several areas to ensure the project will consider sustainability issues.

An example of this is water harvesting which is a technique for gathering and storing rainwater and, following filtering, the water will be used for vehicle cleaning and other, non-potable uses, such as WC flushing.

David McIntosh, an architect with CRGP, says: “It is going to be quite commonplace for all planning applications to consider the carbon footprint. Water harvesting is not particularly new and CRGP has been involved in the past with projects that have included details of how this may be done.

CRGP are working with the engineer on the project Grontmij, to identify other areas, e.g. SUDS, heating and ventilation of the building and how they will work closely with the planners so that current ideas and measures may form a significant part in the design of the building. Ultimately the goal is to achieve as near as possible a zero carbon rating for the building.

The materials that are used to determine the carbon footprint of the building, the production of those materials and the source of energy are other factors that establish its score.