The new office building for the Water and Sewerage Company provides the utility company with a centralised location to conduct its administrative and commercial activities in the south of the island. Situated along the Vieux-Fort to Micoud Highway, at Beane Field in the east section of the town of Vieux-Fort, the offices are conveniently located and easily accessible to pedestrians, motorised employees and customers. The facility is designed and set up to provide all relevant services to the customer, including the convenience of bill payment outside regular hours and on the weekend; in a well-equipped, healthy and comfortable environment for those who work there.
The design seeks to create an attractive and pleasant customer experience, where people can seek assistance with their water service and pay their bills, in an environment of natural light. The north façade, with a magnificent overhanging roof shading, lets daylight into the double-height customer space, while providing a strong sense of orientation and a connection to the outside. The external space is designed to create a park-like setting with appointed landscape design, benches and tables to allow employees a space for lunch, relaxation and recreation.
Set at the entrance to the town on a 2.5-acre compound, the building is designed with sustainability and the general requirements of BREEAM at the top of the list of specifications. The design provides maximum amounts of natural light to both reduce energy consumption and create a well-lit, open space concept that leads to higher productivity and a healthy environment. The design moves away from the concept of design that produces dark, cramped spaces that typify many of the buildings in St Lucia, especially in this age of airborne viruses and prevalence of instances of mould.
The rainwater harvesting system used for the flushing of toilets and landscaping reduces the reliance on the potable water supply, while the PV array and solar power system reduce the reliance on fossil fuel electricity, contributing to a lowered carbon footprint of the building.
With employee and visitor parking to the east and north, the building is set at a distance from the highway, and the combined orientation of the two allows for maximised visibility for safe traffic flow to and from the highway. This maximised visibility works for the building as well, presenting it as a welcome symbol to the town, as it leads the effort to develop this area into the new expanded commercial, recreational, retail and financial part of the town.
Dannion was commissioned by the Water and Sewerage Company for the complete architectural, structural and civil engineering and MEP designs, tender documentation and construction supervision.
