Leading investor-developer Avanton is delighted to have achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating for the construction of the newly opened Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) headquarters at York Place in Battersea, having also achieved an Excellent rating for the Design, as part of their ongoing commitment to building sustainable communities in regeneration zones.

Formally opened by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, the newly unveiled global headquarters for RAD encompass the entire ground floor of Coda, Avanton’s flagship development in Battersea. There is 60,000 sqft of D1 tailor-made space and includes seven dance studios, a curated dance library and archive, changing facilities and a 193-seat theatre for performances. Accessed from York Road, a large entrance lobby with ceiling heights of 4.5 metres welcomes the RAD’s students, teachers, partners and local residents. RAD will move into their new headquarters in March 2022.

The BREEAM UK New Construction 2014 ‘Excellent’ rating signals Avanton’s wider commitment to sustainable development, with their projects focusing on building long-lasting communities, promoting energy-efficient techniques, reducing waste, encouraging green transport and enhancing local biodiversity for each project.

Designed by Pankaj Patel MBE of multi-award-winning practice Patel Taylor, Coda is architecturally striking with a central tower reaching 24 storeys, and a total 298 apartments arranged over the tower and two flanking buildings. There are with elevated landscaped gardens at a podium level above the RAD’s headquarters for residents to relax and enjoy.

Avanton has installed a central Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system to heat both RAD’s headquarters and the apartments above, which meets continuous demand with an average carbon emission reduction of 45% against the Building Control baseline. There are solar panels on the residential roofs, with a generating capability of 59,102 KWh per year which is the energy equivalent of over 2 million hours of laptop use or over 500,000 uses of a kettle.

Coda’s basement car parking supports electric car charging with 25 vehicle charging points and infrastructure for a further 25, alongside 515 secure bicycle storage spaces.

For every resident at Coda, there is also a free 3-year subscription to Zipcar to encourage car sharing to reduce London’s emission. To support local biodiversity, Coda’s brickwork façade seamlessly incorporates bird and bat boxes, and there are bird feeders in the podium garden’s landscaping.

Another key choice for Avanton is the use of brownfield sites, with new life being breathed into disused spaces, bringing people, commerce and amenities back to these areas. Each development also has a mixed-use focus, with Avanton strongly believing creating a sustainable environment is about creating somewhere people want to both live and work, thus reducing travel across the Capital.For the upcoming mixed-use scheme at a former Carpetright on Old Kent Road, Avanton will build a gas-free development, instead providing heating through air-source heat pumps.

Luke Rittner, Chief Executive at RAD says: “We are delighted with our new global headquarters in Battersea. Not only is it a fitting new home for the Royal Academy of Dance for the next 100 years, it is a home for dance, for everyone – it is a new dance destination for London.”

Chris Cobham, Development Director at Avanton says: “We are delighted to have received the BREEAM Excellent rating for the new global headquarters for the Royal Academy of Dance at York Place in Battersea. Our team is always striving to improve our developments designs, energy efficiency, and longevity for the new communities that will live and work there to create balanced, sought-after homes.”