Stockholm Royal Seaport
“Stockholm Royal Seaport will be a spearhead for sustainable urban development where innovative Swedish clean technologies and creative solutions are developed, tested and presented.”
This is how Sten Nordin, Mayor of Stockholm, summarises plans for a former industrial area in eastern Stockholm where a vibrant waterfront district for sustainable living, business and leisure is being created.
WSP is playing a key role in helping Stockholm Royal Seaport achieve the highest environmental objectives, as Agneta Persson, the WSP energy specialist leading the project, explains.
“WSP has been involved from the start,” she says. “We helped develop a vision founded on energy efficiency, low emissions and local production of renewable energy.
“Energy use will be reduced to half of the standard building code requirements with 30% of the electricity for buildings produced locally and total CO2 emissions created less than three tonnes per person per year whereas the current average for Stockholm is four tonnes.”
Renewable energy
WSP has investigated potential locations for wind, photovoltaic, solar energy and biogas installations as part of the project.
“People may be surprised to learn that even in Sweden’s northern climate, the potential of solar energy is significant,” continues Agneta. “In addition, district heating, which is standard practice in Stockholm, is increasingly produced at combined heat and power plants using bio-fuels including various kinds of waste materials. This helps us achieve and surpass the targets for renewable energy.”
Introducing metered hot water and smart metres for the use of off-peak electricity is likely to provide the added benefit of cutting costs for building occupants.
Further energy savings will be made through the application of passive solutions for climate cooling, such as use of sea water, outside shading and the orientation of the buildings.
Inspiration and innovation
As the current European Green Capital of the Year, Stockholm is a world leader in developing and applying new energy and environmental technology. Part of the vision for Stockholm Royal Seaport is to inspire and inform the development of other cities.
Low energy, low carbon technologies suggested in the Stockholm Royal Seaport plan by WSP are inspired by our own experience of designing schemes for cities such as Masdar in Abu Dhabi.
In addition, Agneta’s team has tested examples of low-energy housing in Germany and Austria to assess viability and calculate energy use if such designs were transferred into the Swedish climate. Similar work has been applied to low energy office buildings in the area and all the information has been used to inform the architectural design.
Consensus for best results
All organisations involved in the vision and development of Stockholm Royal Seaport are fully committed to achieving consensus at every step.
“Everyone, including architects, developers and the energy providers is committed to the success of this project,” concludes Agneta Persson. “Thanks to close working relationships the designs now being produced go well beyond the requirements we set out at the beginning.”
