Nex and British Land have recently completed the first UK Grade 'A' office refurbishment that uses the principles of the circular economy. The project re-used and remanufactured inherited fitout to create a fully refurbished and furnished space. The project covers 4,400m2 workspace for 1080 people arranged on 9 floors with views over Regents Park and a ground floor reception, the project pioneers a new approach to office fitout that offers fully-fitted high-quality workspace based on circular-economy principles to reduce carbon and energy impact, reduce cost and enhance financial value. Nex’s ‘Circular Fitted’ design approach refashioned existing materials, fittings and furniture left behind by an outgoing tenant to create an entirely new interior space that reused 70% of the embodied carbon and dramatically reduced waste that went to landfill.

What was the brief?

British Land sought to refurbish nine floors of workspace and the building's ground floor reception following the vacation of the building by a tenant.

People's wellbeing was a key focus of the brief, and it asked for a renewed focus on indoor air quality, biophilia, and places designed for comfortable social gathering. This suggested a complete rethink of the ground floor and upper floors to create more comfortable and lively spaces where people could meet, work and socialise.

On the upper floors, close scrutiny of changing tenant needs led to a brief that could provide tenants with simpler and more flexible access to space to suit their changing needs without the service levels often associated with a fully serviced office product.

Most importantly, British Land sought a more sustainable model for workplace fitout that aligned with their ambitious sustainability goals for the whole Regents Place Campus. Finally, the brief asked for the project to be realised within the budgetary constraints of a typical landlord’s Cat-A fitout.

What were the key challenges?

The significance of energy emissions relating to buildings is well established. It is frequently cited that approximately 40% of the UK’s Greenhouse Gas emissions are attributable to the built environment. Within London, the impact of offices is estimated to be up to half of built environment emissions.

The impact of tenant fitout of workplace buildings makes a significant but underappreciated contribution to their embodied energy and carbon impact. Recent studies have shown this impact amounts to up to one-third of a building's lifetime carbon impact and emissions over 40 years.

Recurring tenant refurbishment also creates significant waste that often ends up in landfill.

A WRAP study estimated that 50,000 tonnes of office chairs and desks alone are committed to landfill before the end of their usable life with less than 15% being reused.

Within this context, the key challenge for the refurbishment of 338 Euston Road was to dramatically reduce the impact of embodied carbon and reduce waste disposal from the previous fitout to align the building with British Land’s broader sustainability goals.

A secondary challenge was how to complete the refurbishment providing a full ready-to-occupy interior within the budgetary constraints of a typical landlord’s Cat-A fitout.

What are the solutions and how are they sustainable?

As we explored options and iterations with the client, it became apparent to us that the uniqueness of the project lay within two related notions that we came to call ‘Circular Fitted’

‘Fitted’ refers to a workspace solution that provides a fully fitted out space where the landlord completes the full interior fitout of office floors, which can be let on a floor by floor basis. This offers tenants simpler and more flexible access to space to suit their changing needs.

Taking this approach further, ‘Circular Fitted’ means a fitted refurbishment that consciously reuses, remakes and re-manufactures existing fit-out rather than strip out and install a new one. Nex’s design approach refashioned existing materials, fittings and furniture left behind by an outgoing tenant to create an entirely new interior space.

Crucial to the success of the project was that the refurbishment quality exceeded the Project Team’s and Client’s expectations and looked and felt brand new.

On the ground floor, the centrepiece of the project is a new ten metre tall (100m2) living green wall facing onto Euston Road. This is made up of large tropical plants interspersed with curving bamboo acoustic panels that enhance people’s comfort within the space. All 38 plant species used in the wall were selected from a NASA research whitepaper for their positive enhancement of indoor air quality.

To create a more sociable atmosphere on the ground floor we removed large formal reception desks and security turnstiles and replaced them with a concierge welcome, while relocating access control to the lifts. We introduced informal meeting and work touchdown settings alongside a new cafe and juice bar.

Behind a vast three-storey high south-facing glass wall we placed an intricately woven curtain to offer solar shading and privacy onto Euston Road. Our use of bamboo throughout the lobby was not purely an aesthetic choice; the material is fast-growing and has a carbon negative production path. This ethos is carried onto the furniture selection, with chairs made partially from recycled PET bottles and new carpets made from recycled materials laid over existing porcelain tiles. All new lighting is high efficiency LED.

On the upper floors, the new workspaces extensively re-use previous materials to dramatically reduce waste and the project's carbon impact. With the exception of one floor returned to CAT A, we retained and refurbished almost all existing mechanical and electrical equipment.

Existing meeting rooms were refurbished or rearranged, while raised floors and lighting were repaired and recommissioned. We carefully dismantled large quantities of old fit-out made from douglas fir. This material was remade into new fitted kitchens and social spaces, fitted work desks, joinery and furniture. All were stained with a transparent white oil. New carpet was made from recycled PET.

Loose work desks and task chairs were taken off-site and fully refurbished with the table tops recycled and replaced. Over 75% of the breakout and meeting room furniture was refurbished and reused.

How is the project unique?

338 Euston Road is an exemplar workspace and reception refurbishment that pioneers a ‘Circular Fitted’ approach to refurbishment that creates environmental and financial benefits compared to the traditional landlord office model widely used within the UK.

A post-completion sustainability analysis of this project undertaken for the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership showed that this Circular-Fitted approach reused 70% of the embodied carbon within the inherited fit-out compared to only 25% in a traditional-Cat A. The reused embodied carbon reflected 2.4 years of operational energy, which was 1.8 years more than the Traditional-Cat A refurbishment. Waste leaving the site was also significantly reduced though this was not measured.

The re-use and repurposing of existing materials and equipment also meant a fully fitted office could be delivered for the same cost as a traditional-Cat A space but including fixtures, fittings, and furniture. This resulted in tangible improvements to rental levels, speed of leasing, and valuation for no extra cost to the landlord. The project was completed and let at least 6 months quicker, at a significant premium, and valuation increase compared to a traditional-Cat A comparison on the floors above.

The success of the project shows that a ‘Circular-Fitted’ approach has the potential for more widespread application in the workplace sector. Beyond the striking environmental benefits, it offers tenants a simpler and more flexible way to occupy space and places the development process and management of facilities within the landlord's area of expertise. Further, it encourages landlords to re-use fit-out and benefit from future-proofing the space with more adaptable design and higher-quality longer-lasting construction. As they own it, they have more incentive to take care of it.

We believe the ‘Circular Fitted’ approach will be of growing importance to both building owners and end-users in a post-Covid economic recovery and as climate change commitments increase.