LEADING energy company SSE has expanded its presence in Glasgow into one of the most sustainable office buildings in the country.
Glasgow’s Aurora office building, based in the heart of the city’s central business and international financial service districts, has recently completed a refurbishment, providing 175,000 sq. ft. of Grade A office accommodation to businesses like SSE.
Aurora is currently owned by Forma Real Estate Fund and partnered with HFD Property, Scotland’s leading commercial property developer to complete the refurbishment.
Aurora has achieved net zero carbon, an energy performance certificate (EPC) ‘A+’ rating, BREEAM ‘Excellent’, and is 100% powered by a renewable source.
This was achieved by the refurbishment that resulted in a 77% reduction in carbon emissions compared to other new buildings.
Ben Dickins, head of asset management (UK) at Forma Real Estate Fund, said: “Sustainability is the core of SSE’s business and it says a great deal about the building’s credentials that the company has chosen Aurora as its new Glasgow base.
“Aurora offers the ideal combination of market-leading green features and amenities, combined with an accessible city centre location.”
The building also offers other benefits such as a rooftop terrace, flexible meeting spaces, and podcast studios, and a biophilic design has also been incorporated to link a new cafe space to the building.
To encourage more employees in the building to take active modes of transport to work, 200 bike racks and 21 showers will also be incorporated.
Stephen Lewis, managing director of HFD Property, said: “The whole concept behind Aurora is to provide what modern occupiers need from their office space – a dynamic workplace in a sustainable environment, with access to best-in-class amenities in a city centre location that you can commute to through a variety of different means.
“Sustainability has been absolutely critical to the project throughout and, with that in mind, it is apt that we welcome SSE as one of the building’s main occupiers.”
SSE already holds office space in Glasgow but hopes to expand the company’s presence into the Aurora building towards the end of 2025.
This will also allow the company to work on its Net Zero Acceleration Programme which will see £20.5bn invested across five years.
David Tate, director of property and FM at SSE said: “SSE continues to invest billions into the net zero transition and to support this expansion, we’ve decided to enter into this lease at Aurora which is conveniently located, and only a few minutes walk from One Waterloo Street.”
