Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.
A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally. Other commonly used terms include sustainable design and green architecture.
The related concepts of sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green building. Effective green building can lead to 1) reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water, 2) improved public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality, and 3) reduced environmental impacts by, for example, lessening storm water runoff and the heat island effect. Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding natural and built environment, although the appearance and style of sustainable buildings is not necessarily distinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.
The Green Building is an environmentally conscious mixed use development situated in the Southern Gateway area of Manchester City Centre, England.
The Green Building was designed by Terry Farrell Architects who aimed to create a sustainable environment on an unusual triangular plot, adjacent to Oxford Road national rail station. The building was constructed by Taylor Woodrow as part of the Macintosh Village development. The Macintosh Village site was formerly a Dunlop tyre factory and also the birthplace of the Mackintosh raincoat.
A total of 32 apartments are arranged across the uppermost eight stories of the ten-floor development. The lower two levels contain a children's day nursery, operated by Kids Unlimited, plus a commercial unit earmarked as a doctors surgery (currently vacant).
