The HALO Enterprise & Innovation Centre

Located on the site of the former Johnnie Walker whisky bottling plant, the HALO Enterprise & Innovation Centre is part of a wider masterplan to regenerate this 23-acre site in Kilmarnock town centre.

The brief for the £63M masterplan is to create a dynamic commercial, educational, cultural, leisure and financially sustainable lifestyle quarter, powered by renewable energy, in which people can work, live, learn and play. The HALO will be the first town-centre net zero carbon energy project in Scotland, using 100% renewable energy sourced through a combination of on-site solar PV panels and renewable energy imported from grid.

The masterplan was split into a few phases to be realized over several years, starting with Phase 1 – the Enterprise & Innovation Centre, a 4-storey building containing over 49,500sqft of commercial space, along with retail and public spaces which create an inspiring environment equipped for the digital and cyber age.

The building is located at the prominent south-east corner of the site, creating has a sense of visibility and importance particularly when approached from the college and town centre to the south. We chose to embed the building into the sloping site, helping to reduce its apparent height when approached from the north where there is a greater emphasis on smaller-scale residential development. Full height glazing to the office floors creates a modern, black box effect and the metal screen on the roof conceals plant equipment and creates a ‘halo’ aesthetic which can be seen from afar when the screen is lit up at night.

The development has brought huge benefits to the local economy which have gone above and beyond a standard office building. HALO Enterprise & Regeneration Centre is a sustainable, spacious, naturally lit, practical, inspiring and iconic building which has transformed this brownfield industrial site.

The sustainability credentials of the project are further enhanced by an agreement with the Scottish Government that dedicated power from Whitelee Windfarm will be supplied to site. The project achieves BREEAM Excellent and an EPC Rating of A to ensure maximum efficiency. Other sustainable features include a centralised battery storage system, an electric heating and hot water (instead of conventional gas) system, integrated e-bikes, e-bus charging point and solar-powered car ports.

Future phases of the masterplan will include healthcare monitoring, low carbon housing, digital light manufacturing and educational and leisure facilities.