Liverpool’s £35m Spine secures prestigious WELL Platinum
The Paddington Village office is one of only three buildings outside of London to have earned the high rating, which is reserved for structures that have exceptional health and wellbeing credentials.
WELL Platinum status is awarded by the International WELL Building Institute. In determining the wellbeing rating of a building, the institute examines the quality of the air, water, and light in a structure. It then goes further to investigate and evaluate thermal comfort, sound, and materials – as well as community spaces.
A WELL Platinum score has been a target for The Spine since the Grade A office building’s inception, with WELL principles factored into its designs by AHR Architect. AHR also crafted the 14-storey building to meet BREEAM Excellent standards, a sustainability measurement system.
Officially being designated as one of the healthiest buildings in the UK is fitting for The Spine, which is the Northern home of the Royal College of Physicians. The Spine was developed by RCP and Liverpool City Council.
Sitting at the top of Brownlow Hill in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter, The Spine was built by Morgan Sindall Construction. The delivery team for the £35m project included multidisciplinary engineer Arup and fit-out contractor Overbury.
CBRE’s ESG team was charged with securing the WELL Platinum rating.
Coming in at 206,300 sq ft, The Spine is the third largest building in the UK to be WELL Platinum. It falls behind Arax Properties’ 280 Bishopsgate (355,300 sq ft) and CBRE’s Henrietta House (224,800 sq ft).
In addition to The Spine, the only other WELL Platinum-certified spaces outside Greater London are JLL’s office within the Landmark Building in Manchester and 400 Longwater Avenue in Reading.
Liverpool City Council Leader Cllr Liam Robinson described The Spine as “a shining symbol of a new Liverpool”.
“The Spine also reflects our ambition of being a world leader in academic research in science and health and the quality of its design speaks of that confidence to achieve that position,” he said.
Reflecting on the WELL Platinum award, Robinson added: “It is a magnificent achievement for all those who helped the council design and build [The Spine] to receive such prestigious industry recognition. I applaud everyone for giving the city such a magnificent building for people to work in, enjoy, and be inspired by.”
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Well done, let’s have some more.
By Liverpool4Progress
The Spine certainly is a stand out building and hopefully more to come on the Paddington Village site.
Liam Robinson talks about the New Liverpool, so maybe PNW can persuade him to do an interview as to what mega projects he has up his sleeve, as at present things are moving at a snail’s pace. For example having abandoned their involvement in the Cruise Terminal is Liam and his Planning Team chasing the private sector to invest in this.
By Anonymous
We should definitely get an interview with Cllr Robinson in the books. We’re on it! – J
By Julia Hatmaker
Hi Julia,
I really hope you can interview Cllr Robinson and pin him down on the direction the City is heading. One of the main areas of concern is the apparent stoic approach to planning applications by the various departments. The question must be asked “Our we a big City or a small one”
Only recently after 3 years I believe of negotiations the Nexdom plans for Pall Mall have been scaled down from 30 stories to 11.
This is not an isolated example and provides little comfort for investors.
Thank you.
By Liverpolitis
Re; any potential interview with the council leader, we need to know why open goals like the cruise terminal are being missed, in addition the Littlewoods Studio must happen it`s a winner, meanwhile our airport gets great reviews but the council seems to be negative about it. Does the council actually make proactive plans to boost development in the inner city and re-populate it as a vibrant hub, are they talking to the private sector about jobs and neighbourhoods. Why do we have this almost inflexible stance on high-rise buildings, unlike any other major city in the UK, we are putting off developers even before any plans come forward, and then when they do they are drawn out for years eg the Carpenter development on the Kings Dock/Wapping goods station was proposed at 15 floors now it`s been lowered to 13, why?
By Anonymous
Liverpool has incredible potential but development like this come along every 5 or 10 years and its just not good enough.
Like others have said we really need a PNW interview with the leadership with tough but necessary questions because the local press just are not interested.
By Simon W
As well as Steve Rotheram and Liam Robinson you should try and interview Nick Small who is in charge of growth and Economy. Unfortunately Nick seems to object to every potential development would like to know why.
By Dingle
If we can secure an interview and by the way if not why not ? he needs to speak and be questioned. The excellent points below should form the basis of the questions everyone except the self opinionated LCC planners are asking ie what on earth is going on with the regressive planners and how dare they impose a no tall buildings strategy on our city to its detriment . If anyone did a very quick review over the last 2 years it would become apparent very quickly that there is a reoccurring common theme. It’s undemocratic clearly against the vast majority of opinions and not acceptable , these people are not accountable to the people they are meant to be serving . Over to you Cllr Robinson show us you are listing and act for the future of our city .
By Paul M - Woolton
Would be a great for PNW to interview Liam Robinson to see what his plans are for Liverpool because no one in Liverpool actually knows what the plan is ? if there is one??
By Anonymous
Liverpool is better off not being over developed like Manchester.
By Cal
It’s got so windy around here. Please no more talls.
By Anonymous
When you read posters like @ Cal who wants a ceiling on development it confirms there is a strand of those who are holding back the city , they have no ambition to be the best and just wish for mediocrity, or levelling off.
As a city you have to think positive and be open to change in order to create or attract jobs and people. Why else did Castore leave Liverpool.
By Anonymous
I work around there and it’s no more windy than anywhere else at all.
By Anonymous
Cal is often an anti development commentator which is strange as this is a development site. Liverpool needs more development and more jobs.
By Obvsoreilly