Regarded as a landmark in the development of sustainable architecture. the intention was to develop a alternative model to the traditional methods of designing office buildings.

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In essence, it is two buildings, one inside the other. The outer truncated cone acts to moderate the thermal environment around the inner office core building. The extra space created on the Ground Floor allows for planted internal vegetation and activities such as an interpretation area and café, as well as a indoor/outdoor reception area for the upper floor levels.

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The essence of the environmental design principles is to direct air heated by the greenhouse effect of the exterior skin or cooled from with the thermal mass of the building (or directly from outside) through the internal office building. The building has a number venting systems (either manual or run off the Building Management System) to control this.

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The significant fact is that the building cost no more to construct than a normal office building, yet uses only half the ongoing energy to run it thereafter. Considering that the running costs represent 70% of the total energy used by a building over its lifecycle, this saving of half this total figure for no additional capital expenditure represents a very significant step forward in developing usable sustainable design principles.