Introduction

Bloomberg London is situated St.Paul’s Cathedral and Bank of England. It is an imposing bronze clad office building which exemplifies sustainability. It includes the newly opened European headquarters of Bloomberg. Total cost of the project was estimated as 1 billion pound. It covers an entire block of the city. There are two buildings in the office. The thing that makes the project different from all the neighbors is the outstanding environment of the building. It has a design stage score of 98.5% for office development. The building services engineer and the architect Fosters and partners have been able to achieve the score despite the challenge posed by MichaelBloomberg, the CEO of the company to push sustainable office design boundaries.

Different types of system based thinking and approaches

Systems can be comprehended by identifying important patterns which are responsible for describing prospective system evolutions. Descriptions can be found to be complementary, indeterminate and observer dependent (Forrester, 1994). The transition of systems takes place naturally between specific equilibrium points with the help of self-organization and environmental adaptation (Innes and Booher, 1999). Here, order and control can be found to be emergent instead of hierarchical.

Different types of system based principles are creation of  shared purpose, cultivation of learning, enquiry, experimentation and divergent thinking, increase in internal as well as external interconnections with the help of communication technology, instilling feedback loops for self-control and self-reference, cultivation of specialization, diversity, integration and differentiation, creation of principles of action and shared values and making specific behavioral and structural boundaries explicit.

Some of the important system thinking concepts are interconnectedness, synthesis, emergence, casualty, feedback loops and system mapping. It is also important to take into account the TISE (Technical, institutional, Social and Environmental) systems for measuring different aspects of the project (Jones, M., 2019). The major technical aspects of Bloomberg European headquarters are integrated ceiling panels, natural ventilation process, smart airflow and water conservation process. The technical systems of the project include key routes for all the people who move in and around the city, ground level cafes, restaurants and setting back of an undulating facade below a colonnade that is covered. In addition, there are social systems like cultivation of neighborly relations, showing respect for history, inclusion of British elements, providing benefits to local people and developing an effective working environment.   

Analysis

Analysis of the social systems

Important features

Cultivation of neighborly relations includes providing employment to all the British workers, and applying different types of local materials, for instance Aluminum from Wales and Sandstone from Derbyshire (Jagustović et al., 2019). The Bloomberg project also shows respect for history. The Bloomberg project is useful for looking at whether the heights are maintained as lower than the approved height of the building. Another thing is to apply bronzer and sandstone as facade materials and preserve all the ancient Roman sites. The project also includes essential British elements like the sculpture called forgotten streams, ‘he-has’ resting areas and Foyer’s wooden element. Local people get many benefits from the project. These benefits are pedestrian civic space, restaurants, public theater and public amenities, and underground entrance. Better working environment is also provided by the system (Jones, 2019). This working environment includes radial and bespoke height adjustable desks, a spiral ramp which covers seven floors and a wooden floor that is removable.

Analysis

When Fosters and partners undertook the project, besides developing a cutting edge design, they wanted to show respect to the history of London and develop its vitality (Bloomberg.com. 2021). Through doing the construction at a lower height than what was actually approved at the time of planning, reservation of some parts of the public space site, and with the effective usage of engrossingly detailed and handcrafted elements, Bloomberg has been able to display great generosity to the city (Rabagliati et al., 2018). Art has been used as an integral element for enhancing the experience of the people of building spaces.

Analysis of the Environmental systems

Important features

The bronze sandstone fins in the building are useful for providing solar shading. There are ceiling panels responsible for featuring 2.5 million polished aluminum pearls that help in saving energy through improvement of heating efficiency, important lighting and cooling functions and making them into an integrated system that helps in saving energy (Pittau, 2018). The ceilings are useful for absorbing sounds. Steel used for construction is durable and strong and has been found to be connecting 6 floors. This is useful for the reduction of construction waste.

In the ceiling, 0.5 million LED lights have been installed, resulting in 40% of low level of energy and petal shape aids for airflow management and acoustics. Additionally, openable panels have been installed (Blackman, 2018). At the time, when outside temperatures allow, the panels are opened automatically. It helps in drawing fresh air into the building’s deep plan areas. Rainwater is responsible for managing the great water recycling process and feeding vacuum-flush toilets. This applies net zero water which contributes to the reduction of water usage by 73%. The constitution helps in managing self-generated electricity and smart airflow of the interior (Aitchison, 2021). Smart airflow is responsible for adjusting indoor airflow on the basis of the total number of people present in the building which is known for saving nearly 600 to 750 MWh of power every year (Glassdoor, 2021). Bloomberg Office building has the system of generating its own heat power for warming the office during the winter time and cooling it at the time of summer.

Analysis

One of the most innovative aspects of the Bloomberg building design is that the northern and larger buildings’ deep plan and expansive floor plated can be cooled and ventilated with the help of natural ventilation process. It is possible for outsiders to enter the floor plates with the help of vertical bronze and purpose designed fins that border the facade of the building and frame the glazing method (Altdörfer et al., 2019). The fins include all the vents which are acoustically treated which can be opened and closed for controlling the airflow effectively. From all the floor plates, the air will start rising up and beyond the central atrium. It is the only northern building that includes a natural ventilation process. The southern building which does not include an atrium is generally mechanically ventilated. The large floor plates in the building indicate that it is very difficult to provide a solution in terms of natural ventilation for the office building. Foster and partners with the application of Breathing and engineering buildings made a system that enables the leviathan to ventilate naturally during mid-season. It is also developed for on time commissioning for mild weather. At the time of winter and summer, when facades get sealed, mechanical ventilation of the office is done with sufficient air supply from all the units of roof-top air handling process (Bloomberg.com, 2021). The air is taken down to five perimeters for effective distribution with the help of diffusers in the integrated ceiling of the office.

Analysis of the technical systems

Innovative power, water, lighting and ventilation systems of Bloomberg project can help in improving the environmental score of the building (Kalaitzake, 2020). Three is natural ventilation in the interior spaces. This ventilation along with a breathing facade ensures development of a healthy, creative and connected environment.

Some of the most important technical systems of the project are

Water conservation

Different rainwater sources, blow off water from cooling towers, and rainwater stored in the roof are captured, treated and recycled for serving all the vacuum flush toilets (Jones, 2019). These apply net zero mains water for the flushing purpose (BREEAM, 2017). Water conservation systems are useful for saving 25 million liters of water every year.      

Integrated ceiling panels

Bespoke integrated ceiling panels are useful for combining different functions related to cooling, lighting, heating and acoustic functions using an innovative petal leaf design. The system contains around 500,000 LED lights which make use of 40% lower energy than any fluorescent office lighting system (Jones, 2019).

Natural validation

At the time when there are temperate ambient weather conditions, the distinctive bronze blades open and close very frequently. This permits the building to function in a natural ventilation mode that is breathable. Reduction of cooling equipment and mechanical validation dependency is known for decreasing consumption of energy.

Smart airflow

The smart CO2 sensing controls installed in the building permits distribution of air on the basis of total number of people in specific zones in the building at any provided time. The ability of adjusting the airflow dynamically in response to patterns and hours of occupancy can help in saving 600-750 MWhr power every year (Aitchison, 2021). This reduces emissions of CO2 by 300 metric tons every year.

Analysis of the institutional systems

The new European headquarters of Bloomberg is regarded as one of the most sustainable office buildings of Europe. Outstanding level has been achieved by the building against the sustainability assessment method of BREEAM which scores 98.5% (Nastu, 2017). This is regarded as one of the highest design stage scores achieved by effective office development. It is believed that environmentally friendly practices are useful for business. The institutional systems include the highest sustainability standards. Project is developed into a building from there. It is considered as one of the sustainable projects of the world.

In the integrated ceiling panels, the bespoke integrated ceiling panels include important cooling, lighting, acoustic and heating functions with the help of a petal leaf design (BREEAM, 2017). The system which has 500000 LED lights makes 40 percent less energy than any fluorescent lighting system. Environmental effect management has been useful for helping Bloomberg in eliminating more than 700,000 tons of CO2 and present a cost of $95 million from the year 2008 (Bloomberg.com, 2021). With the construction of the new building in London, globally Bloomberg has developed 34 projects which are BREEAM or LEED certified. It is possible at the end of 2017, more than 70% of the 19,000 employees of the company will have an office that is environmentally certified. In terms of sustainable occupation, Bloomberg has zero landfill function in London from the year 2010. Instead recycling and composition of waste is done and they are converted to energy (Bloomberg.com, 2021). The new site also has a commitment. It is expected to have effective waste streaming for enabling good waste proportion products. It has to be recycled and reused. On a global scale, Bloomberg is currently responsible for diverting 75% of the overall waste away from different landfills (Faber and Hoppe, 2013).

The interiors of the new development are useful for encouraging active working in different workstations and a central ramp with the span of six floors give encouragement to the movement in the building. There is a wellness center and two cycle centers which provide multi faith prayer rooms and on site health services. All the employees can have these services.

Analysis of three important indicators

People

Bloomberg European Headquarter project is useful for providing important financial and globe business information. It is responsible for providing influential decision makers a critical edge through establishing connections with them with a dynamic information network, ideas and people. People are considered the most important asset of Bloomberg European Headquarters projects (Jones, 2019). The aim was to develop a unique and sustainable building where the 4000 employees from London could come to work every day and can get inspired to establish connection, collaboration and do innovation. This is the office space where it is possible for people to inspire one another to do the best job. People believe that the project has very good architecture and can give credits to all the teams who are involved in providing an effective piece of work with care and humility for all the people who apply it and pass through it.   

Economics based measurement

In terms of economic based measurement, it has been found that nearly 542,000 people work in the London city. This makes up for 10% of the overall workforce of London (Chang and Hwang, 2018). There are a total of 4000 workers in the New European Headquarters of Bloomberg. The share of jobs in financial services, business services, technology, professional services, Food services, accommodation and retail and others are 35%, 12%, 11%, 24%, 7% and 12%.

Nature based measurement

In terms of nature based measurement, Bloomberg European Headquarter Project got a 98.5% BREEAM score. The project has been able to make 35% savings in energy consumption and around 73% in water consumption savings. It is possible for the ventilation system to save around 600 to 750 MWhr power each year. In addition, installation of 500,000 LED lights can be useful for saving the 500,000 KWhr of energy and $10,600 of cost. The lighting used has the potential for using 40% less energy than other types of conventional systems of lighting. The initiatives of water reuse and recovery can help in saving 25 million liters of water every year. This helps in increasing efficiency of water usage by 75% (Rabagliati et al., 2018). Moreover, the airflow system used can lower the emission of CO2 by around 200 metric tons every year. The power system and heat can be useful for saving 500 to 700 tons of CO2 every year. As a result, net zero emissions for carbon can be achieved by the year 2025.

Conclusion

From the analysis of system based thinking and approaches and application of them in different areas of Bloomberg European headquarters project, it can be concluded that it is important to take into account the technical systems, institutional systems, social systems and environmental systems for the project in order to make important decisions for important real estate projects. In addition, it is also possible for taking important decisions regarding low environmental cost and low level of pollution. Moreover, it will also be possible for making effective plans vfor blends in the construction with the surroundings.

Recommendations

• At the time of developing the real estate business, it is necessary to decide whether is required to specialize in a specific type of property or whether it is required to diversity. Moreover, it is also required to detect all the important skills of a real estate manager. In case the work is with families, it is necessary to take into account investment in properties for single families. In case, investment has to be made in the building team buying a residential building can be more profitable. The most important thing is to decide the direction of doing business.
• Academic scholars and real estate investors need to develop good relations with all likeminded people in a way that helps in gaining insight into the local market of real estate and get the necessary knowledge from seasoned professionals. In addition, it is also required to develop connections with vendors and real estate agents. This relationship can be useful at the time of purchasing additional properties for finding vendors for maintenance.
• It is necessary to look at all the important factors like social, technological, environmental and institutional systems. This will help the real estate enterprise to deliver important data, analytics and news with the help of innovative technology. In addition, it will be possible for building the solutions on the basis of the core strength of the enterprise. Leveraging technology can help in permitting customers to have access, manage and distribute information in the enterprise effectively.