Foss House

Customer: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Location: Kings Pool, York
Installer/Subcontractor: Time Limit Interiors

Komfort Products:
Polar Single Glazed,
Komfort 3000 fire doors,
Core doors in aluminium frame

*For our new, enhanced single glazed system please see Polar 30

Download Case Study

The Foss House Project

Background
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Komfort worked closely with Time Limit Interiors (TLI) to assist with the fit-out and furnishing of Foss House, part of Defra’s York headquarters.

The Building
Foss House is part of Defra’s York headquarters located in the heart of the northern city. The building is principally used for office space and meeting rooms.

The Brief in Brief
The brief was to remove the cellular offices and to transform the building into a contemporary open plan environment, allowing light to permeate the building. Throughout the duration of the refurbishment, all works were carried out to the highest level of efficiency and ensured business continuity.

One key consideration for this project was the building’s ability to withstand flooding. The previous design had been prone to flooding, and therefore monolithic glass was an intelligent requirement for this refurbishment. The use of monolithic glass meant that there would not be necessity to change the glass if flooding did occur.

Komfort’s Solution

The design requirements to resist flooding meant Polar single glazed was installed. Komfort’s Polar single glazed partitioning was a large contingent to the interior design of the lower ground floor. Polar single glazed minimalist form is designed with the minimum of components, thus facilitated speed of erection without compromising structural stability and rigidity.

Komfort’s 3000 fire doors were installed on meeting room doors to meet stringent safety requirements.

The end result
Komfort worked closely with TLI to ensure the dynamic brief was met, whilst working to a strict timeframe. Working collaboratively, Komfort provided technical support to secure and deliver.

The completed project met the brief seamlessly and has created a modern office environment, optimising the space available. Foss House achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating and met the targets set by Sustainability Operations on the Government Estates (SOGE).