The £3.2 million Hydrogen Office will generate electricity from solar panels, two wind turbines and hydrogen fuel cells, the latter storing excess energy for when wind and sun are not available. The fuel cells will contain enough energy to run the office for three days while a wood-chip boiler will supply extra heat for the complex if required.

The block will be linked to the national grid as a precaution, but the designers are confident it will produce more energy than it uses. Water is the only fuel requisite for electricity and the only by-products produced will be water and oxygen.

The project is being managed by the Business Environment Partnership, which will set up its headquarters in the building, with the remainder of the 1000 square metre space rented out to small businesses. It is expected to be operational in early-2007.

“It is designed to demonstrate that with renewable and hydrogen energy you can meet the energy needs of an office of this size,” said project manager Derek Mitchell.

“We are using current technologies – we’re not developing any new ones – but we are linking them together in a way that’s never been done before.”