The new Ordnance Survey building in Southampton

The head office of Britain’s national mapping agency has been recognised as one of the most sustainable in the country.

Ordnance Survey’s Southampton Explorer House won the sustainable achievement award at a recent London ceremony.

The move by staff to the new building in 2010 immediately cut the organisation’s carbon footprint by 60 per cent.

The building’s design incorporates large, north-facing windows to reduce the need for artificial lighting. Temperature is controlled by an electronic management system, which opens and closes windows and controls heating and ventilation systems to avoid excessive energy loss and achieve good working conditions.

A ground-source heat pump provides heat to the building; food waste is composted and its toilets are flushed with harvested rainwater.

Explorer House gained the accolade at the Office Agents Society development awards. The building was also rated excellent using the British Research Establishment environmental assessment method.

Greg Tumilty, building and property services manager at Ordnance Survey, said: “We are obviously delighted to be recognised, especially for the sustainable achievement awards.

“We worked hard to ensure that the building was as sustainable as possible for the long term. Given Ordnance Survey has been collecting data for over 220 years, we want to make sure that the long term prospects for the building and the organisation are as positive as they can be.”

Adam Vine, associate director at developers Kier Property, said: “On this project it was very important to consider the environmental issues and to take steps to maximise the opportunities to create a building which had a sustainable future and a positive impact on the local community as well as the existing workforce.”

The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the building in October last year.

grough is a commercial partner of Ordnance Survey which supplies data and mapping for its grough route system.