CAFOD moves to new green building
CAFOD’s new head office is being officially opened by Archbishop Vincent Nichols tomorrow. The aid agency moved premises on 10 May after 28 years in Stockwell to a purpose-built new building next to St George’s Cathedral in Southwark.
The building, named Romero House in an ongoing tribute to the memory of Archbishop Oscar Romero, will receive a blessing by Archbishop Nichols after which he will present Director Chris Bain with a symbolic opening gift.
Representatives from Catholic women’s organisations including National Board of Catholic Women, the Catholic Women’s League and The Union of Catholic Mothers will attend together with the Mayor of Southwark and Lambeth and Chair of Trustees, Bishop John Rawsthorne.
Romero House, in keeping with CAFOD’s LiveSimply initiative, has been designed in the most cost effective and environmentally friendly way.
The building has achieved an ‘excellent’ rating by the Building Research Establishments Environment Assessment (BREEAM ), the highest possible rating. Only 148 buildings reached this out of 1200 assessed last year.
Examples of its sustainability can be seen in the day to day running of the lighting and water systems, which operate using ground heat pumps, a solar thermal system and rain water collection tanks.
The new technology is designed to provide 100% of the heating demand, 100% of the cooling demand and 50% of the hot water supply. Over 20% of the energy required to run the building is produced using these renewable methods, saving £6,000 each year
to be ploughed back into CAFOD’s work.
Aside from the building’s green credentials, it is designed purposefully to maximise opportunities for staff to work more effectively together and with overseas partners, having previously been spread across three separate sites. The move has also enabled the agency to strengthen its links into the local church community.
For more information about CAFOD see: www.cafod.org.uk/