02 May 19
When Clarkebond was appointed by British clothing retailer Boden to provide civil, structural and ground engineering services on a project to transform their ’60’s north London HQ, an essential element of the project was to carry out a value engineering exercise which demonstrated to the client that a refit and refurbishment was commercially and environmentally more sustainable than a tool demolition and re-build.
The succes of the transformation of the Boden premises that famously displays a sign saying ‘Ugly building, nice clothes’, through a multi-million pound make-over, to a very attractive, light, airy, modern office space with many sustainable features, has now won the project a British Council for Offices (BCO) award for Recycled/Refurbished Workspace.
This award recognises excellence for a corporate or commercial building where significant works have been carried out to adapt the existing building to modern office use. No more than 49% of the net internal area of the building may be new build.
“We are delighted with this award. Many buildings built in the 60s and 70s are considered to no longer meet today’s requirements,” states Clarkebond Regional Director, Theodore Tai (pictured).
“This project shows that we don’t need to write these buildings off and demolish them. Re-working the building can be a more sustainable solution that brings them up to up to standard. Through working together and value engineering the design, Clarkebond, along with the rest of the design team, was able to provide the client with exactly the building they wanted, with great sustainability credentials and without the expense and disruption of relocation. The building now meets their brand aspirations and has lost its dreadful tagline.
The transformation from warehouse to modern office space included the full upgrade of the building envelope with new cladding, new windows and curtain walling. Internally, a new steel mezzanine was installed to accommodate over 300 staff who now benefit from great views across the inside of the building.
New mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are exposed throughout and cleverly designed bespoke joinery and furniture compliment the workspaces and break-out zones.
As part of the overall refurbishment strategy, the thermal performance of the external envelope cladding was upgraded and Clarkebond instigated an offset structural grid system to the original structures with the internal designer at the outset in order minimise the extent of new substructures for the new mezzanine.
All the new stanchions are tactically positioned approximately half way in between the existing column grid system where possible. This arrangement provided an opportunity to simplify the substructure foundation which minimised the need for a complex cantilevered ground beam solution and the likelihood of potential obstructions imposed by the existing foundation. This provided substantial savings in the substructure works for the scheme.
Client: J P Boden
Engineers: Clarkebond
Architect: SpaceLab
Contractor: 21construction
Property Agent: Cushman and Wakefield
Building Services: Elementa
If you would like more information on any Clarkebond’s services, don’t hesitate to get in touch: info@clarkebond.com or call to speak to one of our experts.
Clarkebond (UK) Limited
Clarkebond is a multi-disciplinary engineering and management consultancy operating from a network of three offices in the UK – London, Bristol and Exeter.
